དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ།

The Teaching of Vimalakīrti

Vimalakīrtinirdeśa

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The full translation is available to download as pdf at:
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འཕགས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”

Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra

Toh 176

Degé Kangyur vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 175.a–239.a.

Translated by Robert A. F. Thurman.

First published 2017
Current version v 1.45.5 (2020)
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Summary

s.1

While the Buddha is teaching outside the city of Vaiśālī, a notable householder in the city—the great bodhisattva Vimalakīrti—apparently falls sick. The Buddha asks his disciple and bodhisattva disciples to call on Vimalakīrti, but each of them relates previous encounters that have rendered them reluctant to face his penetrating scrutiny of their attitudes and activities. Only Mañjuśrī has the courage to pay him a visit, and in the conversations that ensue between Vimalakīrti, Mañjuśrī, and several other interlocutors, Vimalakīrti sets out an uncompromising and profound view of the Buddha’s teaching and the bodhisattva path, illustrated by various miraculous displays. Its masterful narrative structure, dramatic and sometimes humorous dialogue, and highly evolved presentation of teachings have made this sūtra one of the favorites of Mahāyāna literature.

ac.

Acknowledgments

ac.1

Translated by Robert A. F. Thurman and first published, under the title The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti: A Mahāyāna Scripture, by the Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park and London, in 1976.

This electronic edition for 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, with an abridged introduction and notes, and lightly edited under the supervision of Professor Thurman, is published by his kind permission as the copyright holder.

From the Preface to the original edition:

I sincerely thank my friend and benefactor, Dr. C. T. Shen, both for his sponsorship of the work and for his most helpful collaboration in the work of comparing the Tibetan and Chinese versions. We were sometimes joined in our round-table discussions by Drs. C. S. George, Tao-Tien Yi, F. S. K. Koo, and T. C. Tsao, whose helpful suggestions I gratefully acknowledge. My thanks also go to Ms. Yeshe Tsomo and Ms. Leah Zahler for their invaluable editorial assistance, and to Ms. Carole Schwager and the staff of The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Preface to this electronic edition:

I earnestly thank Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche for his great efforts in creating the 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha project, to present in English the many great works of the Buddha’s teachings freely to the world.

I also thank John Canti, of 84000, for his careful, creative, and very learned translating and editorial work on this electronic edition, without which this improved translation would not have materialized. I thank Mr. Patrick Alexander, of the Penn State University Press, who was the one who informed me that the copyright to my original translation done for the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions had reverted to me upon the termination of that Institute, to which I had previously conveyed my rights.

I intend to publish in print form a further update of that original version at a future time. Since there have been a number of free-floating electronic forms of this text on the internet for some years now, I am happy that the sūtra in its current revision is now available in the 84000 Reading Room, among the many other translations on that site.

Sarva maṅgalam!

Chapter 1

Purification of the Buddhafield

1.1

[F.175.a] Reverence to all the buddhas, bodhisattvas, noble disciples, and pratyekabuddhas, in the past, the present, and the future.

1.2

Thus did I hear on a single occasion. The Lord Buddha was in residence in the garden of Āmrapālī, in the city of Vaiśālī, attended by a great gathering. Of bhikṣus there were eight thousand, all arhats. They were free from impurities and afflictions, and all had attained self-mastery. Their minds were entirely liberated by perfect knowledge. They were calm and dignified, like royal elephants. They had accomplished their work, done what they had to do, cast off their burdens, attained their goals, and totally destroyed the bonds of existence. Their true knowledge had made their minds entirely free. They all had attained the utmost perfection of every form of control over their minds.14

Chapter 2

Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art

2.1

At that time, there lived in the great city of Vaiśālī a certain Licchavi, Vimalakīrti by name. Having served the ancient buddhas, he had generated the roots of virtue by honoring them and making offerings to them. He had attained tolerance as well as eloquence. He played with the great superknowledges. He had attained the power of retention and the fearlessnesses. He had conquered all demons and opponents. He had penetrated the profound way of the Dharma. He was liberated through the transcendence of wisdom. Having integrated his realization with skill in liberative art, he was expert in knowing the thoughts and actions of living beings. Knowing the strength or weakness of their faculties, and being gifted with unrivaled eloquence, he taught the Dharma appropriately to each. Having applied himself energetically to the Mahāyāna, he understood it and accomplished his tasks with great finesse. He lived with the deportment of a buddha, and his superior intelligence was as wide as an ocean. He was praised, honored, and commended by all the buddhas and was respected by Indra, Brahmā, and all the Lokapālas. In order to develop living beings with his skill in liberative art, he lived in the great city of Vaiśālī.

Chapter 4

The Consolation of the Invalid

4.1

Then, the Buddha said to the crown prince, Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, [F.198.a] go to the Licchavi Vimalakīrti to inquire about his illness.”

Mañjuśrī replied, “Lord, it is difficult to attend upon the Licchavi Vimalakīrti. He is gifted with marvelous eloquence concerning the law of the profound. He is extremely skilled in full expressions and in the reconciliation of dichotomies. His eloquence is inexorable, and no one can resist his imperturbable intellect. He accomplishes all the activities of the bodhisattvas. He penetrates all the secret mysteries of the bodhisattvas and the buddhas. He is skilled in civilizing all the abodes of devils. He plays with the great superknowledges. He is consummate in wisdom and liberative art. He has attained the supreme excellence of the indivisible, nondual sphere of the ultimate realm. He is skilled in teaching the Dharma with its infinite modalities within the uniform ultimate. He is skilled in granting means of attainment in accordance with the spiritual faculties of all living beings. He has thoroughly integrated his realization with skill in liberative art. He has attained decisiveness with regard to all questions. Thus, although he cannot be withstood by someone of my feeble defenses, still, sustained by the grace of the Buddha, I will go to him and will converse with him as well as I can.”

Chapter 6

The Goddess

6.1

Thereupon, Mañjuśrī, the crown prince, addressed the Licchavi Vimalakīrti: “Good sir, how should a bodhisattva regard all living beings?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, a bodhisattva should regard all living beings as a wise man regards the reflection of the moon in water or as magicians regard men created by magic. He should regard them as being like a face in a mirror; like the water of a mirage; like the sound of an echo; like a mass of clouds in the sky; [F.208.b] like the previous moment of a ball of foam; like the appearance and disappearance of a bubble of water; like the core of a plantain tree; like a flash of lightning; like the fifth great element; like the seventh sense-medium; like the appearance of matter in an immaterial realm; like a sprout from a rotten seed; like a tortoise-hair coat; like the fun of games for one who wishes to die; like the egoistic views of a stream-winner; like a third rebirth of a once-returner; like the descent of a nonreturner into a womb; like the existence of desire, hatred, and folly in an arhat; [F.209.a] like thoughts of avarice, immorality, wickedness, and hostility in a bodhisattva who has attained tolerance; like the instincts of afflictions in a tathāgata; like the perception of color in one blind from birth; like the inhalation and exhalation of an ascetic absorbed in the meditation of cessation; like the track of a bird in the sky; like the erection of a eunuch; like the pregnancy of a barren woman; like the unproduced afflictions of an emanated incarnation of the Tathāgata; like dream-visions seen after waking; like the afflictions of one who is free of conceptualizations; like fire burning without fuel; like the reincarnation of one who has attained ultimate liberation. [F.209.b]

Chapter 7

The Family of the Tathāgatas

7.1

Then, the crown prince Mañjuśrī asked the Licchavi Vimalakīrti, “‌Noble sir, how does the bodhisattva follow the way to attain the qualities of the Buddha?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, when the bodhisattva follows the wrong way, he follows the way to attain the qualities of the Buddha.”

7.2

Mañjuśrī continued, “How does the bodhisattva follow the wrong way?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Even should he enact the five deadly sins, he feels no malice, violence, or hate. Even should he go into the hells, he remains free of all taint of afflictions. Even should he go into the states of the animals, he remains free of darkness and ignorance. When he goes into the states of the asuras, he remains free of pride, conceit, and arrogance. When he goes into the realm of the lord of death, he accumulates the stores of merit and wisdom. When he goes into the states of motionlessness and immateriality, he does not dissolve therein.

11.

Chapter 11

Vision of the Universe Abhirati and the Tathāgata Akṣobhya

11.1

Thereupon, the Buddha said to the Licchavi Vimalakīrti, “Noble son, when you see the Tathāgata, how do you view him?”

Thus addressed, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti said to the Buddha, “Lord, when I see the Tathāgata, I view him by not seeing any Tathāgata. Why? I see him as not born from the past, not passing on to the future, and not abiding in the present time. Why? He is the essence that is the reality of matter,202 but he is not matter. He is the essence that is the reality of sensation, but he is not sensation. He is the essence that is the reality of intellect, but he is not intellect. He is the essence that is the reality of performance, yet he is not performance. He is the essence that is the reality of consciousness, yet he is not consciousness. Like the element of space, he does not abide in any of the four elements. Transcending the scope of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, he is not produced in the six sense-media. [F.231.b] He is not involved in the three worlds, is free of the three defilements, is associated with the triple liberation, is endowed with the three knowledges, and has truly attained the unattainable.

12.

Chapter 12

Antecedents and Transmission of the Holy Dharma

12.1

Then Śakra, the king of the gods, said to the Buddha, “Lord, formerly I have heard from the Tathāgata and from Mañjuśrī, the crown prince of wisdom, many hundreds of thousands of teachings of the Dharma, but I have never before heard a teaching of the Dharma as remarkable as this instruction in the entrance into the method of inconceivable transformations.206 Lord, those living beings who, having heard this teaching of the Dharma, accept it, remember it, read it, and understand it deeply will be, without a doubt, true vessels of the Dharma; [F.235.a] there is no need to mention those who apply themselves to the yoga of meditation upon it. They will cut off all possibility of unhappy lives, will open their way to all fortunate lives, will always be looked after by all buddhas, will always overcome all adversaries, and will always conquer all devils. They will practice the path of the bodhisattvas, will take their places upon the seat of enlightenment, and will have truly entered the domain of the tathāgatas. Lord, the noble sons and daughters who will teach and practice this exposition of the Dharma will be honored and served by me and my followers. To the villages, towns, cities, states, kingdoms, and capitals wherein this teaching of the Dharma will be applied, taught, and demonstrated, I and my followers will come to hear the Dharma. I will inspire the unbelieving with faith, and I will guarantee my help and protection to those who believe and uphold the Dharma.”

Colophon

c.1

It has 1,800 ślokas in six fascicles, and was translated, edited, and established by Bandé Chönyi Tsultrim.

ab.

Abbreviations

Ch.	Chinese
K	Kumārajīva’s Ch. translation
X	Xuanzang’s Ch. translation

Notes

n.1

Skt. acintyavimokṣa. See Chapter 12.

n.2

See Lamotte (Appendice, Note III, pp 407-413).

n.3

See Lamotte’s discussion of this concept (Lamotte, Introduction, pp 33-37), even though he emphasizes the rhetorical meaning more than the behavioral meaning.

n.4

The Guhyasamājatantra (see bibliography) is generally recognized as one of the earliest systematic tantric texts. It expounds a philosophically pure Middle Way nondualism, combined with an explicit teaching of the reconciliation of dichotomies (i.e., how even evil can be transmuted to enlightenment, etc.) and an elaborate meditational methodology, employing sacred formulae (mantra), rituals, and visualizations. The meditation of jewels, buddhas, sacred universes (maṇḍala), etc., as existing in full detail inside a mustard seed on the tip of the yogin’s nose is a characteristic exercise in the Guhyasamāja, as in Chap. 3.

n.5

See 2.3. It is especially appropriate, in the light of the early tantric tradition, for Vimalakīrti, as a layman, to be an adept.

n.6

See 7.1-7.15, where Vimalakīrti states that the “wrong way” leads to buddhahood, Mañjuśrī that all passions constitute the “tathāgata-family” (itself an important tantric concept), and Mahākaśyapa that only those guilty of the five deadly sins can conceive the spirit‌ of enlightenment‌. The Guhyasamāja (V.4) states: “Even those who have committed great sins, such as the five deadly sins, will succeed on the buddha-vehicle, there in the great ocean of the Mahāyāna” (ānantaryaprabhṛtayaḥ mahāpāpakṛto ’pi ca | siddhyante buddhāydne ’smin mahāyānamahodadhau ||). It then goes on to list in Vimalakīrtinirdeśa fashion all sorts of terrible crimes of lust and hatred, ending with the phrase that such “a mentally nondualistic, intelligent person’s buddhahood is attained” (siddhyate tasya buddhatvaṃ nirvikalpasya dhīmataḥ ||).

n.7

See 7.17. In the tantric male-female symbolism of the Guhyasamāja and other tantras, the female consort is called the “Wisdom” (prajña) and the male the “Liberative Technique” (upāya), and the bell (ghaṅṭa) and diamond-scepter (vajra) also symbolize female and male, respectively.

n.8

See 5.17. This type of yogic power is classified as a lesser attainment (siddhi), the superior attainment being buddhahood, in all tantric methodologies.

n.9

See 6.30. The Guhyasamāja elaborates the symbolism of the “Five Tathāgatas,” the leaders of the tathāgata-families, who are usually called Vairocana, Amitābha, Akṣobhya, Ratnasaṃbhava, and Amoghasiddhi, and thus correspond to the tathāgatas listed by the goddess too closely to be merely coincidentally related. Tathāgataguhyaka, further, is a subtitle of the Guhyasamāja itself.

n.10

Vimalakīrti’s special relation to the Tathāgata Akṣobhya (see 11.9) is highly significant in this context, as Akṣobhya is central among the “Five Tathāgatas,” occupying the heart in the esoteric methodology which locates the five in the five important spots in the human body.

n.11

Also transliterated Yen Fo-t’iao; his translation, like some of the other early translations, has not survived. See Lamotte p 2 et seq.

n.12

The other Tibetan translation (or translations) by unknown translators surviving only in some of the fragments found at Dunhuang; these fragments may represent two different versions. See Lamotte p 19.

n.13

See bibliography.

n.14

This list of qualities of the noble disciples (āryāśravāka) is absent in the Chinese of K and X. It is, however, frequently found in Mahāyāna sūtras (see Lamotte, p 98, n 2).

n.15

This phrase is absent in Tib. but is included in K and X.

n.16

The ten transcendences (daśapāramitaḥ), which correspond to the ten stages (daśabhūmayaḥ) of the bodhisattva.

n.17

According to the Degé and Stok Palace Kangyurs, which correspond to the Sanskrit text’s anupalambhānutpattikadharmakṣānti-samanvāgataiḥ. The Yongle, Lithang, Peking, Narthang, Cone, and Lhasa Kangyurs all omit dang mi skye ba’i.

n.18

Tib. mtha’ dang mtha’ med par lta ba’i bag chags kyi mtshams sbyor ba kun bcod pa; Skt. antānantadṛṣṭivāsanābhisaṃdhisamucchedaka. “Convictions concerning finitude” refers to two sorts of extremism, absolutism and nihilism, and “convictions concerning infinitude” refers to convictions that hypostatize voidness (i.e., infinity, etc.) as a self-existent entity. Thus the bodhisattvas are said here to have realized, even on the subconscious level, both the voidness of things and the voidness of voidness.

n.19

The list has been revised to ensure that the names match those in the Sanskrit text, although there are a few differences in order and content. For exhaustive references concerning the presence of some of these bodhisattvas in other Mahāyāna sūtras, see Lamotte, pp 100-102, ns. 12-33. The Chinese lists in K and X vary somewhat; see Luk, pp 3-4, for K; and Lamotte, p 102, for X. For information about the more well-known bodhisattvas, see glossary.

n.20

Tib. dkon mchog ’byung gnas (lit. “Jewel-Mine”). The Chinese versions give his name as “Jewel-Ray” (Ratnarāśi), although the Skt. Ratnākara is supported by his appearance in a number of other Mahāyāna sūtras, where he is also identified as a Licchavi, a merchant’s son, and a great bodhisattva of the tenth stage, as well as by the Sanskrit manuscript. For full references, see Lamotte, p 103, n 38.

n.21

The jewels were gold, silver, pearl, sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond, although various sources alter this list slightly.

n.22

Skt. trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu. The term “galaxy” was chosen to evoke the sense of inconceivable scope intended by the original Skt. term, as such cosmological terms were never aimed at material precision, but rather at triggering an imaginative vision of inconceivable cosmic immensity. I have modified the following catalogue of objects and places to conform to a more modern cosmology.

n.23

This list of mountains, according to Lamotte (p 104, n 41), occurs in other Mahāyāna sūtras but does not correspond to usual Buddhist cosmology, except for the fact that Sumeru, mentioned first, is in the center (of each world) and Mount Cakravāḍa, actually a mountain range, is mentioned and surrounds each world of four continents. This list is first in the order of the Tibetan.

n.24

Tib. zhi gnas pha rol phyin mchog brnyes; Skt. śamathāpāramitāgraprāpta. Śamathā can be adequately rendered “mental quiescence” when it refers in general to one of the two main types of Mahāyāna meditation; the other is “transcendental analysis” or “analytic insight” (vipaśyana). In this verse, however, Ratnākara refers to it in its aspect of final attainment; hence “trance” best conveys the sense of extreme one-pointed fixation of mind.

n.25

Tib. skyes bu’i khyu mchog; Skt. puruṣarṣabha. This common epithet of the Buddha contains the simile comparing him to the chief bull of a herd of cattle because of his power and majesty.

n.26

Tib. ’chi med ’gro; Skt. amṛtaga (lit. “goes to deathlessness”). The buddhas’ teachings lead to nirvāṇa; in nirvāṇa there is no birth, and where there is no birth there is no death.

n.27

The subtle difference here between Tib. and Ch. of K and X is noteworthy. Tib. causally relates “deep analysis of things” (Skt. dharmaprabedha) to the teaching of their ultimate meaning, which accords with the Indo-Tibetan emphasis on “transcendental analysis” (vipaśyana) as indispensable for realization of the ultimate nature of things. Ch. (both K and X) puts the two (analysis and the ultimate) in opposition, saying, “(You are) expert in analysis of the nature of all things, (yet are) unmoved with respect to the ultimate meaning, (as you have) already attained sovereignty with respect to all things.”

n.28

The fact about Buddhist doctrine that most baffled ancient critics is that the cause and effect of karma operates without any ego principle to link the doer of an action and the experiencer of that action’s karmic effects.

n.29

The Tibetan grammar leaves it ambiguous as to whether the absence of feeling, etc., refers to enlightenment or to the outsiders. K and X indicate the former, but we have chosen the latter to avoid characterizing supreme enlightenment as a mere “nonthought,” etc., since it obviously transcends all polarities. Further, it is in keeping with the tenor of the sūtra to distinguish between enlightenment and the mere attainment of even the most advanced samādhi.

n.30

Tib. lan gsum bzlas pa chos kyi ’khor lo rnam mang po. Although neither Skt. nor Tib. mention the aspects as “twelve,” Lamotte supplies this from the occurrence of the formula in other sūtras, where the three revolutions correspond respectively to the paths of insight (darśanamārga), meditation (bhāvanāmārga), and mastery (aśaikṣamarga), each revolution having four aspects corresponding to the Four Noble Truths. The first revolution involves recognition of each truth, the second thorough knowledge of each, and the third complete realization of each. See Lamotte, p 107, n 49; Mahāvyutpatti, nos. 1309-1324. However, since there is no mention of the “twelve aspects,” but rather “many aspects,” it is possible that what is referred to is the three doctrines of the Buddha elaborated in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra, also known as the “Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma”; namely, the Disciple Vehicle teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the Mādhyamika teaching of Transcendent Wisdom, and the Vijñānavāda teaching of “Fine Discrimination Between Existence and Nonexistence” (see Lamotte’s Saṃdhinirmocana sūtra, VII, no. 30, pp 85, 206).

n.31

After this verse, there are two verses in K and X, not in Tib. or Skt. For verses in K, see Luk, p 7, lines 3-10, and McRae, p 73, verses 9-10; for X see Lamotte, p 108. Since X tends to be more consistent with Tib., I will translate X: “The billion-world galaxy, with its realms of gods and dragons, appears in the little parasols offered to the Lord; thus we bow to his vision, knowledge, and mass of virtues. The Lord displays the worlds to us with this miracle—they all are like a play of lights, as all bear witness in astonishment. Obeisance to the Lord of ten powers, endowed with knowledge and vision.”

n.32

Skt. āveṇikabuddhalakṣaṇa. This and the subsequent two verses (Chap. 3) illustrate some of the special buddha-qualities, which total eighteen (see glossary “eighteen special qualities of the Buddha” for a complete list).

n.33

This verse in Tib. and Skt. appears to be expanded into two verses in K and X: “The Lord speaks with but one voice, but all beings, each according to his kind, gain understanding, each thinking that the Lord speaks his own language. This is a special quality of the Buddha. The Lord speaks with but one voice, but all beings, each according to his own ability, act upon it, and each derives his appropriate benefit. This is a special quality of the Buddha.” For K see Luk, p 7, and McRae, p 74. For an interesting discussion of the speech of the Buddha, see Lamotte, pp 109-110, 11. 52.

n.34

This and the preceding two lines ascribe to the Buddha the attainment of the three doors of liberation: voidness (śūnyatā), signlessness (animittatā), and wishlessness (apraṇihitatā).

n.35

Tib. byang chub sems dpa’ rnams kyi sangs rgyas kyi zhing yongs su dag pa; Skt. bodhisattvāṇam buddhakṣetrapariśuddhi. Although the explanations given by the Buddha obviate the need for discussion of the meaning of this term, it is worthwhile to note that this concept is the logical corollary of the bodhisattva’s conception of enlightenment: that it be attained for the sake of all sentient beings as well as for his own sake. Thus, the bodhisattva’s quest for enlightenment does not involve merely his own development, although that is of course primary; it must also involve his cultivation of a whole “field” of living beings, those who, through karmic interconnection, have destinies intertwined with his, occupying the same worlds as he, etc. Hence, his purification of a buddhafield is a mode of expressing his ambition to cultivate a whole world or universe while he cultivates himself, so that he and his field of living beings may reach enlightenment simultaneously.

n.36

K and X differ here quite radically. X: “For example, sons, if one should wish to construct a palace in an unoccupied place and then adorn it, he could do so freely and without hindrance, but if he wished to build it in empty space itself, he could never succeed. In the same way, the bodhisattva, although he knows that all things are like empty space, produces pure qualities, for the development and benefit of living beings. That is the buddhafield which he embraces. To embrace a buddhafield in this way is not like building in empty space.” K: “It is as if a man wished to build a building in a vacant place—he could do so without difficulty. But (if he wished to do it) in empty space, he could not succeed. Likewise, the bodhisattva, in order to cultivate all living beings, wants to embrace a buddhafield. One who thus wishes to embrace a buddhafield (does not do so) in the void.” The first impulse of the translator is to resort to the Ch. versions in the interest of simplicity and ease, since the simile there is much more clearly drawn: vacant lot = living beings, empty space = any sort of materialistic notion about a buddhafield; ergo building on solid needs of living beings succeeds, and any other way fails. However, upon reflection, what does the Buddha wish to convey in this example? Are not living beings and their needs and purposes just as ultimately empty as “all things”? Would not the concretization of the benefit of living beings violate the definition of liberative technique integrated with wisdom given by Vimalakīrti himself (see 4.22)? Is it not more fitting to understand the Buddha here as telling us not to concretize any mundane aims, however beneficial, but that the bodhisattva’s great compassion must always adhere to the wisdom that sees the ephemerality of all purposive notions, constructed or constructive? When we undertake something we know to be essentially impossible, through the sheer intensity of compassion, do we not enter the realm of inconceivability? Finally, may not the Buddha be speaking in tune with his own subsequent miraculous display, as he demonstrates the actual possibility for him, no less than for space-age technology, of building a pure buddhafield in the empty space of ultimate voidness?

n.37

X changes the order of these four to conception, positive thought, virtuous application, and high resolve. Either order is quite acceptable, since the four work together throughout the bodhisattva’s career.

n.38

This phrase is taken from K (it is absent in Tib., Skt. and X) because it rounds out the list of ten virtues, being the counterpart of the sin known as “frivolous speech.” “Free of divisive intrigues and adroit in reconciling factions” basically describes one virtue, the opposite of “backbiting” (see glossary “ten sins” and “ten virtues”).

n.39

This step of “development…” is included in the progression by both K and X, and, since it makes more explicit the transition from liberative technique to the buddhafield itself, we have included it (although it is absent in Tib. and Skt.).

n.40

Śāriputra was one of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, especially renowned in Disciple Vehicle texts for his wisdom; he was called “foremost of the wise” (prajñāvatām agrya). In this sūtra, as well as in other Mahāyāna sūtras, he becomes the “fall guy” par excellence, as he is often inclined to express the Disciple Vehicle point of view, which is then roundly rejected by the Buddha, by Vimalakīrti, or by one of the bodhisattvas. In fairness to him, it is often noted that the petty thoughts that arise in his mind, for which he is severely criticized, are caused to arise there by the magical influence of the Buddha or of Vimalakīrti, so that a thought that may be entertained by numerous members of the assembly may be brought into the open and rejected. He serves therefore as an archetype of the disciple personality and need not be condemned as exceptionally obtuse personally.

n.41

See glossary “conception of the spirit of enlightenment.”

n.42

Thus, his conduct and knowledge conformed to the six transcendences.

n.43

Tib. ’jig rten dang ’jig rten las ’das pa’i gsang sngags dang bstan bcos; Skt. laukikalokottaramantraśāstra. This is a possible reference to tantric practices, but it is missing in both K and X, who mention only “mundane practices.”

n.44

Vimalakīrti is here shown as the embodiment of the practice of “reconciliation of dichotomies.”

n.45

This sentence is absent in K and X.

n.46

Both K and X have, instead of this phrase, “because he taught them loyalty and filial devotion.”

n.47

Tib. mi rtag par is missing, but supplied by Lamotte (p 130) from the Dunhuang fragments, and also from K and X; it is supported, too, by the Sanskrit manuscript (aiśvaryānityatvasaṃdarśanāyau).

n.48

These similes are famous in the Disciple Vehicle as well as Mahāyāna. The fact of their presence in Disciple Vehicle teachings was used by Prāṡangika philosophers such as Buddhapālita and Candrakīrti, to prove that insubstantiality or selflessness of phenomena (dharmanairātmyā) was taught in the Disciple Vehicle. For further references, see Lamotte, p 132, n 23.

n.49

According to Lamotte, the four hundred and four diseases are classified with one hundred and one arising from each of four primary elements. But according to the “eight branches” (aṣṭāṇga) of Indian and Tibetan medicine, they arise from the three humors, vāta, pitta, and kapha (vital airs, bile, and phlegm, Tib. rlung mkhris bad kan gsum), when their balance becomes disturbed: i.e., one hundred and one from airs, one hundred and one from bile, one hundred and one from phlegm, and one hundred and one from unhealthy combinations of all three.

n.50

Comparison of these three fundamental classifications of the psychophysical elements of a person to murderers, snakes, and an empty town is traditional. See n.102, and Lamotte, p 136, n 28.

n.51

Tib. has simply “born from merit and charity.” The translation here follows K. The store of merit culminates in the saṃbhogakāya, body of beatitude, and the store of wisdom culminates in the dharmakāya, ultimate body.

n.52

Skt. śīla, samādhi, prajñā, vimukti, and vimuktijñānadarśana are the five Dharma-aggregates, or pure aggregates, or members of the Dharma-body of the Buddha (see Lamotte, p 139, n 30).

n.53

These are the two main types of Mahāyāna meditation. The former corresponds to the fifth transcendence and includes all practices that cultivate one-pointedness of mind; the latter corresponds to the sixth transcendence, especially the analytic penetration to the realization of personal selflessness (pudgalanairātmya) and phenomenal selflessness (dharmanairātmya), or voidness. The latter is not so well known as the former, which is commonly considered to be the main type of meditation: nondiscursive, one-pointed, etc. Nevertheless, it is said frequently in both sūtras and commentaries that without integrated practice of both, the higher stages of enlightenment will not be attained. For more details, see glossary (under “mental quiescence” and “transcendental analysis”).

n.54

Degé has dben pa, isolation, but most of the other Kangyurs (including the Stok Palace) have bden pa, truth, and this is confirmed by the Sanskrit, satya.

n.55

Skt. utsāhate. This has been translated most frequently in its meaning of “fitness, capacity,” as each of the monks and bodhisattvas asked by the Buddha to visit Vimalakīrti replies with the same phrase: “I am not fit…” or “I am not able…” However, from the Tibetan use of the word spro ba, which means to be enthusiastic, inspired, gladdened, I chose to interpret this in its meaning of enthusiasm, which in the negative gives “I am not enthusiastic…” or “I am reluctant….” That is, none of those asked by the Buddha are actually pretending to be unable to visit Vimalakīrti; they only plead their unwillingness, timidity, etc., in order to be excused by the Buddha from carrying out his command.

n.56

Vimalakīrti confounds Śāriputra by demanding of him the ability to reconcile dichotomies in actual practice, i.e., by rejecting Śāriputra’s Disciple Vehicle position and expecting him to follow the way of the bodhisattva. Śāriputra reacts in the same way as the other monks and bodhisattvas in this chapter: he is overwhelmed and speechless, yet intuitively recognizes the rightness of Vimalakīrti’s statements. He can neither accept them and put them into practice nor reject them outright (see Lamotte, p 142, n 3).

n.57

Maudgalyāyana was known as the “foremost of those endowed with miraculous powers” (ṛddhimatāṃ agrya) and was paired with Śāriputra as one of the two leading disciples of the Buddha. Vimalakīrti chastises him basically for failing to use his “wisdom eye,” his superknowledge of what is in others’ minds (paracittajñāna), to determine that his listeners were willing and able to learn and understand the Mahāyāna teaching of the profound nature of reality, and for teaching them instead the Disciple Vehicle teaching, with its one-sided emphasis on world-rejection, etc.

n.58

Tib. rlabs thams cad dang bral ba; Skt. sarvormivigata, lit. “free of all waves” (of thought).

n.59

Skt. dharmadhātu. This is not the dharmadhātu (phenomenal element) included among the eighteen elements (see glossary). It is one of the five synonyms of voidness included in Maitreya’s Madhyāntavibhāga, I, 15—tathatā bhūtakoṭiśca ’nimittaṃ paramārthatā | dharmadhātuśca paryāyāḥ śūnyatāyāḥ samāsataḥ ||—where it is analyzed in a rather unusual way as “the element of Dharma, from which arise the noble qualities of the arhats….” However, Tib. dbyings definitely indicates interpretation of dhātu as space, realm, etc., rather than element; so, with the proviso that it is a synonym of voidness, it is here translated “ultimate realm” (i.e., no relative realm at all). See glossary, “ultimate realm.”

n.60

This passage follows X quite closely, but K is somewhat different in details (see Luk, pp 21-22, or McRae, p 86).

n.61

This refers to those teachings (of śūnyatā, etc.) the Buddha reserves for disciples of greatest ability, definitive teachings (nītārthavacana) as opposed to teaching meant to develop disciples (to the point when they can understand the definitive teachings), which are known as interpretable teachings (neyārthavacana). See glossary, “definitive meaning.”

n.62

Mahākāśyapa was known as “the foremost among the upholders of the ascetic practices” (dhūtaguṇavādinām agraḥ) and was the Buddha’s successor as leader of the saṅgha after the parinirvāṇa. Here he is engaged in one of the twelve ascetic practices (see glossary), that of living on food begged as alms (paiṇḍapātika). Thus, in the very execution of his specialty he is scolded by Vimalakīrti, who points out to him that such practices are intrinsically worthless and are useful only if combined with the true equanimity reached through the wisdom that realizes voidness.

n.63

Kāśyapa is favoring the poor here by depriving the rich of the chance to give food to him and thus benefit themselves.

n.64

Skt. yo ’svabhāvo ’parabhāvaś ca tad anujjvalitam | yad anujjvalitaṃ tan na śāmyati. His seemingly irrelevant statement, which occurs again in Vimalakīrti’s speech to Kātyāyana (3.25), is, in fact, highly relevant to the main Disciple Vehicle concern: the burning of the misery of the world, in which, they believe, man’s condition is like that of one whose head is ablaze. Hence their major preoccupation is to extinguish that fire, just as a burning man will seek water with a frantic intensity to save himself. Thus Vimalakīrti is telling Mahākāśyapa and Kātyāyana that since they do not have intrinsic existence as self, or imparted existence as other in relationship to anything else, they do not really exist and, therefore, they cannot burn with the misery of the world and there is nothing to extinguish in liberation (nirvāṇa literally meaning “extinguishment”).

n.65

Among Subhūti’s other strong points, he was known as the “foremost among those worthy of offerings,” (dakṣiṇeyānāṃ agraḥ, see Lamotte, p 154, n 27). Thus Vimalakīrti challenges him precisely about his worthiness, defining it by testing Subhūti’s equanimity in the face of all the most unworthy things he can think of and causing Subhūti to feel frightened and confused by his own adherence to dualities such as good and evil.

n.66

By “fruition,” Vimalakīrti means any of the culminating stages of realization attained by those who practice the teachings, such as the Four Noble Truths, the twofold selflessness, etc.

n.67

Tib.: chos thams cad dang yang ldan la chos thams cad kyi ’du shes dang yang bral. The Skt. of the Potala MS reads na sarvadharmasamanvāgataś ca sarvadharmasamadhigataś ca, but to accord with the Tib., which seems clearer and was presumably translated from a different MS, this would have to be emended to read sarvadharmasamanvāgataś ca na sarvadharmasaṃjñāvigataś ca.

n.68

Tib. nyon mongs pa med pa (lit. “absence of passions,” or afflictions). However, the Skt. here is araṇa, and K and X use “nondisputation,” which is actually equivalent to dispassion, since the “struggle,” or “disputation,” referred to is internal, the turbulence of inner struggle of one prey to passions. This is perhaps more appropriate here, since Subhūti was renowned for his attainment of this state (see Lamotte, p 154, n 27; araṇavihārīnām agro, etc.)

n.69

K and X: “if those who make offerings to you do not find in you a field of merit.”

n.70

According to the Mahāyāna understanding of the miraculous nature of the three bodies of the Buddha, especially the “incarnation-body” (nirmāṇakāya), Vimalakīrti himself is an extremely likely candidate to be one of its operatives. Thus, one steeped in the Mahāyāna faith would see him here as being subtly playful with Subhūti.

n.71

Tib. yi ge de dag thams cad ni yi ge med pa ste/ rnam par grol ba ni ma gtogs so/ chos thams cad ni rnam par grol ba’i mtshan nyid do. K and X differ slightly, but essentially have the same meaning: “Language does not have an independent nature. When it is no more, there is liberation.” In other words, no independent nature = ultimately nonexistent; it is no more = when the ultimate is realized; then liberation = when even words are realized to be liberation, there is no more duality, and there is realization. Ch. stresses the experiential moment of pure gnosis of voidness. Tib. expresses this gnosis along with its nondual, postattainment wisdom (pṛṣṭhalabdhajñāna). It is Vimalakīrti’s last word on nonduality to instruct Subhūti.

n.72

Pūrṇa, “son of Maitrāyaṇī,” was known as “the foremost of expounders of the Dharma” (dharmakathikānām agraḥ; see Lamotte, p 160, n 42). According to the Pāli sources (as cited by Lamotte), this very incident, or one similar to it, resulted in five hundred young monks’ attainment of the state of arhat. In any case, it can be assumed that Pūrṇa was often entrusted with the instruction of young monks, and it was just such an occasion on which Vimalakīrti apprehended him. His reproaches are along the same line as those given to Maudgalyāyana, only more explicit, i.e., that the great disciples should not teach the Dharma because they cannot recognize the affinity for the Mahāyāna in their pupils.

n.73

This means they attained the eighth bodhisattva stage, called “The Immovable,” where the bodhisattva becomes irreversible (avaivartika) and previous to which he is liable to regression, even to forgetting the spirit of enlightenment already conceived in former lifetimes, as in the case of these monks.

n.74

Kātyāyana was renowned as the founder of the Abhidharma tradition of analysis of the meaning of the Buddha’s discourses. He was pronounced by the Buddha, according to the Pāli sources, to be the “foremost expounder of the detailed meaning of the concise declarations (of the Buddha)” (aggo saṅkhittena bhāsitassa vitthārena attham vibhajantānam). True to form, Vimalakīrti finds him when he is engaged in the execution of his special expertise (see Lamotte, p 162, n 49 and glossary).

n.75

These four are called the “four insignia of the Dharma” or “four epitomes” (see glossary).

n.76

K and X insert: “That all things do not exist ultimately is the meaning of voidness.”

n.77

See n.64.

n.78

Aniruddha was said to be “foremost among possessors of the divine eye” (agro divyacakṣukānām; see Lamotte, p 167, n 56, and glossary).

n.79

This dilemma was more embarrassing to Aniruddha than confounding, since logically he could have answered that of course his divine eye was compounded, just like that of outsider adepts. Vimalakīrti touched his pride in this critique; hence the dilemma he poses here bears only superficial resemblance to the Mādhyamika dialectic.

n.80

Upāli was especially well known as expert in Vinaya, the code of monastic discipline, and was its chief compiler after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa (vināyadharāṇām agraḥ).

n.81

Tib. the tsom sol te bdag cag gnyis ltung ba las phyung shig (lit. “remove our doubts and take us both out from the infraction”). The “absolution” consists in the senior monk’s listening to their confession and encouraging their resolution not to repeat the infraction. Thus he grants no dispensations in regard to the retributive effects and only gives them the opportunity to come to a new understanding and decision in their own minds. This is traditional in Buddhist discipline.

n.82

Skt. vināyadhara. As usual, Vimalakīrti makes his point on the disciple’s home ground: Upāli was known as vināyadharāṇāṃ agraḥ, “foremost upholder of the discipline,” as the two monks mention in the next paragraph.

n.83

Rāhula was the actual son of the Buddha and was admired in the saṅgha as a renunciant and devotee because he forsook the throne to join the saṅgha under his father. The Pāli sources show him dubbed “foremost among those eager for training” (Skt. śikṣākāmānam agro; see Lamotte, p 177, n 70).

n.84

Tib. thog ma’i dang tha’ ma’i mthar lta ba dang bral ba’o. K and X have instead: “Renunciation is beyond this, that, and in between, being above the sixty-two false views.” The Skt. does not appear to include this sentence.

n.85

Some verses of Tsong Khapa summarize the Mahāyāna “mind of renunciation” very aptly: “Reverse the interest in this life by thinking over again and again that leisure and opportunity (to practice the Dharma) are hard to find and that there is no (fixed) duration of life. Reverse interest in the life hereafter by constantly meditating upon the inexorability of karma and the sufferings of the world. Through such concentration, when there is not the slightest ambition, even for a split second, for even the greatest successes in the world, the mind of renunciation has arisen.” See G. Wangyal, Door of Liberation (New York, Girodias, 1973), Chap. V.

n.86

Even after his explanation, the young men still confuse renunciation, a mental concentration, with the mundane act of entering the monkhood. So Vimalakīrti has to remind them that the conception of the spirit‌ of enlightenment‌ is the true renunciation, not just a mere change of clothes and habits.

n.87

Tib. and Skt. have thirty-two hundred, but K and X have thirty-two, which seems more reasonable.

n.88

Ānanda was renowned for many things: learning, mindfulness, steadfastness, etc., and was the second leader of the saṅgha , after Mahākāśyapa. Vimalakīrti finds fault with him when he is being “foremost of attendants” (aggo upaṭṭhākānām), caring for the Buddha’s apparent needs as he did faithfully for twenty-five years.

n.89

See Lamotte, p 183, n 77, for learned references to this incident in other sources, notably Vatsasūtra.

n.90

Tib. gzhan mu stegs can spyod pa pa dang kun tu rgyu dang gcer bu pa dang tsho ba pa dag; Skt. anyatīrthika caraka parivrajaka nigranthājīvāḥ. I have simply rendered this “outsider sectarians” so as not to burden the reader with irrelevant names, as this expression is a cliche for all the outsider groups occurring in other Mahāyāna sūtras (see Lamotte, p 186, n 81).

n.91

Voices from sky-gods are common in Mahāyāna sūtras.

n.92

See Lamotte, p 186, n 82, for another version of this episode translated by Kumārajīva in Prajñāpāramitopadeśa.

n.93

K and X start a new chapter at this point, while Tib. and Skt. include the disciples’ and bodhisattvas’ responses to the Buddha’s request in a single chapter.

n.94

The characterization of Maitreya in Mahāyāna sūtras is that of having a certain naiveté. Mañjusrī often chides him, and Vimalakīrti does not let him rest on his laurels.

n.95

K and X give a different reading: “How then, Maitreya, did you receive the prophecy of your attainment of buddhahood after only one more birth? Did you receive it as the reality of birth or as the reality of death? In the former case, this reality is uncreated, and in the latter case, it does not die.” As always, Ch. is less abstract than Tib., but both agree on the general tenor of Vimalakīrti’s refutation of Maitreya’s acceptance of the prophecy as being valid on the ultimate level of reality (paramārthasatyatā). On the question of the validity of prophecies on the superficial and ultimate levels, see Lamotte, p 189, n 89.

n.96

The thrust of Vimalakīrti’s instruction here is that “being enlightened” and “being unenlightened” are valid designations only on the superficial, designative, relative level of truth. “Discriminative construction” is that mental process that seeks to “absolutize” a relative thing, taking “ignorance” and “enlightenment” as ultimately real things. Thus in all the subsequent negational descriptions of enlightenment, the phrase “on the ultimate level” may be understood to avert a nihilistic interpretation. See Introduction, i.1 ff.

n.97

Tib. rnam par rig pa med pa; Skt. avijñapti (lit. “without means of cognition”). Again, it may be stressed that all these statements imply the qualification “ultimately” (paramārthena).

n.98

K and X: “It is the seat of interdependent origination, because it is like infinite space.” Ch. thus takes pratītyasamutpāda (see glossary “dependent origination” and “relativity”) as equivalent to śūnyatā, which is correct as regards its ultimate nature. Vimalakīrti refers to the “cessation-order” of the twelve links of origination: that is, stopping ignorance stops synthetic activity; stopping synthetic activity stops consciousness; stopping consciousness stops name-and-form; stopping name-and-form stops the six sense-media; stopping the sense-media stops contact; stopping contact stops sensation; stopping sensation stops craving; stopping craving stops grasping; stopping grasping stops existence; stopping existence stops birth; and stopping birth stops old age and death. This is the sequence of realization of the twelvefold chain during the attainment of enlightenment on the seat of enlightenment‌.

n.99

Tib. dam pa’i chos yongs su ’dzin pa; Skt. saddharmasaṃgraha. Here taken as “incorporation” in the sense of the bodhisattva’s incorporation of the holy Dharma in all phases of his daily life.

n.100

Tib. sha kya’i sras; Skt. Śākyaputrīya. This implies that Jagatindhara, although a layman, has religious vows of celibacy in the bodhisattva order of Śākyamuni.

n.101

Here Vimalakīrti is shown as an emanation of the Buddha, who encountered these same goddesses as temptresses during his night under the bodhi tree, where he subdued them. Here, Vimalakīrti not only subdues them but goes a step further and causes them to conceive the spirit of enlightenment.

n.102

See n.50. The aggregates murder the spirit of enlightenment‌ when falsely considered as “I” and “mine” through egoistic views. The elements, when egoistically misapprehended as constituting an experiencing subject, its objects, and its perceptions, poison the health of liberation. And the sense-media are like an empty town, as there is no person living within them.

n.103

It is commonly observed by the Buddha and all the great Buddhist philosophers, such as Nāgārjuna, that many feel frightened when taught the profound teaching of voidness because of misapprehensions about that most healing of concepts.

n.104

Tib. drin gzo ba, or byas pa gzo ba; Skt. kṛtajñaḥ. This is one of the important themes of the meditation of the spirit of enlightenment‌, of love and compassion. The kind deeds of the Tathāgata consist in his appearance in the world in order to save living beings, as a kind mother will even sacrifice her life for her beloved child. This kindness is repaid by generating the same compassion for all other living beings and conceiving the spirit‌ of enlightenment‌.

n.105

Sudatta (legs par byin) is more commonly called Anāthapiṇḍada (mgon med zas sbyin); he was a great philanthropist of Śrāvastī, known as “the foremost of donors” (Pāli aggo dāyakānaṃ). For numerous references see Lamotte, p 211, n 135.

n.106

Skt. mahāyajña. The great sacrifice was an ancient Indian custom which, in Vedic times, was the central ritual of the Brahmanic religion. It usually consisted of sacrifices to the gods of various material things. By the Buddha’s time, it was not uncommon for such an occasion to become rather a formalized period of donation to priests, ascetics, and beggars. However, the Buddha commonly declared that sacrifice and the giving of material things was infinitely less meritorious than sacrifice of egoism and the giving of the Dharma. This is the tenor of Vimalakīrti’s critique.

n.107

Last phrase incorporated from K and X.

n.108

Last phrase incorporated from K and X.

n.109

This accords with the “Joy Immeasurable, which realizes the ultimate liberation of all beings from the beginningless,” the standard description of the third of the “four immeasurables.” See glossary.

n.110

X follows Tib., but K has “of realizing firmness of body, life, and wealth, consummated in the three indestructibles.” The three indestructibles are infinite body, endless life, and boundless wealth (see Luk, p 46, n 3), but this concept is apparently not found in Skt. or in Tib. Nevertheless, Tib. has the same meaning because the “body, health, and wealth” here referred to are not mundane in nature, but refer to the true body, etc., of the Buddha. See 2.10.

n.111

In a later work, this would be taken as an obvious reference to tantric yoga, but here, this yoga might also be interpreted as a reference to the highest yoga of the bodhisattva, the yoga of the inconceivable liberation. See Chapter 5.

n.112

Sudatta here misses the point, apparently, and, instead of awakening to the transvaluation of the notion of sacrifice, he again resorts to a material sacrifice. Thus, Vimalakīrti has to go beyond his previous statements and stage the following miracle to make his point.

n.113

This extremely terse and subtle dialogue must be translated with the greatest grammatical precision to avoid confusion in meaning. It is all too tempting to translate the instrumental case (Ch. yii, Tib. kyis) as genitive, rendering the phrase “empty by means of emptiness” (stong pa nyid kyis stong pa) as “empty of emptiness,” which then can be identified as the well-known voidness of voidness (śūnyatāśūnyatā). Vimalakīrti says here only that the buddhafields are empty because that is their ultimate nature, not that they are equivalent to the emptiness of emptiness.

n.114

Mañjuśrī implies that Vimalakīrti is negating the validity of the superficial reality (saṃvṛtisatya), since, granted that the ultimate nature is emptiness, does that mean that any particular superficial thing, such as a buddhafield, is empty, even as a relative thing?

n.115

Vimalakīrti ignores the implication and repeats his statement of the ultimate reality of all things, mentioning specifically mental constructions (parikalpa) in place of buddhafields.

n.116

Then Mañjuśrī challenges Vimalakīrti’s use of the ultimate nature of emptiness, probing to see if Vimalakīrti might be hypostatizing emptiness as something, which could be constructed mentally or conceptualized.

n.117

Vimalakīrti rejects that possibility, finally introducing the concept of “emptiness of emptiness,” i.e., that emptiness is itself but a conceptual construction and, as such, is itself empty of substantial, ultimate reality.

n.118

K: “Sickness is neither of the element earth, nor separate from it; and the same pertains to the other elements. Sicknesses of living beings arise from the four primary elements, and I am sick because of their sicknesses.”

n.119

Tib.: nyes bar spyod pa thams cad bstan pa ste/ ’pho bas ni ma yin no. K and X: “…But not to consider that they have entered into the past.” Tib. ’pho ba can mean either “transmigration at death,” or “transference,” such as the transference of sin to another, who absolves the sinner with his blessing. This is not practiced in Buddhism, as no absolution is effective: karmic effects cannot be avoided in any case, and the important thing is to cultivate the states of mind that refrain from wrongdoing.

n.120

The two thought processes here outlined follow the pattern of the meditation of the two selflessnesses, personal and phenomenal or of things (pudgalanairātmya and dharmanairātmya). In short Vimalakīrti is equating sickness with the bodhisattva’s very existence in the world, and the cure he prescribes is the cure for all misery in the world.

n.121

The concluding phrase on the voidness of voidness is not in Skt. or Tib. but is incorporated from K. Note the central Mādhyamika thesis that all things exist conventionally as “mere designations” (prajñaptimātra).

n.122

This phrase is not in Skt. or Tib. but is incorporated from K and X. Other slight differences between Ch. and Tib. in these passages do not alter the essential meaning.

n.123

In perceiving objects, we unconsciously assent to their apparent, self-sufficient, ultimate existence and thereby are confirmed in our innate phenomenal egoism. The only antidote for this deepest root of saṃsāric life is the subtle awareness of voidness.

n.124

Skt. anupalambha. About this important method, Bhāvaviveka has this to say (Tarkajvāla, IV.23): “In order to abandon adherence to materialism, one should condition oneself to the cultivation of nonperception. So doing, even a single instant of the undistorted, spontaneous realization of the reality of all things will eliminate the stream of passions with their instinctual drives, these instincts being the cohesive force in objective appearance. Thus, when no objects are perceived, there is no occasion for the arising of instinct. This is the method of the Mahāyāna.”

n.125

This analogy explaining the word “bodhisattva” is strong evidence for the fact that “sattva” here has its meaning of “hero” or “warrior,” rather than merely its meaning of “living being.” This puts the Tib. byang chub sems dpa’, “enlightenment-mind-hero,” in a favorable light.

n.126

Skt. *anunayadṛṣṭikarunā (lit. “compassion of emotional conviction”). The available Skt. reads anuśaṃsādṛṣṭi, but the Tibetan was clearly translated from another MS that must have read anunayadṛśṭikaruṇā. This is false compassion, according to Candrakīrti, as it is not integrated with the wisdom of impermanence, hence not effective in actually alleviating the sufferings of living beings. Candrakīrti (Madhyamakāvatāra, I) enumerates three levels of true great compassion, compassion that sees beings, that sees things, and non-objectifying, respectively, combined with the wisdoms of impermanence, of personal selflessness, and of phenomenal selflessness. See glossary “great compassion.”

n.127

“Reincarnation” is here used in the sense of “voluntary rebirth” to distinguish the coming into the world of a bodhisattva as opposed to the birth of a normal being.

n.128

The integration of wisdom and liberative art (prajñopāyādvaya) is the fundamental formulation of the Mahāyāna path. It is the main dichotomy reconciliation the bodhisattva must incorporate in his practice. It is carried over into the symbolism of the tantra, where wisdom = bell = female and technique = vajra = male. Thus this integration finds its most exalted symbol in the tantric representation of the Buddha as male and female in union.

n.129

K and X have one more domain here, “wherein practice is neither pure nor impure.”

n.130

K has “transcendent knowledge”; but that would not be paradoxical, in keeping with the general pattern of this description, whereas “transcendence” conveys the idea of the bodhisattva accomplishing the transcendences for other living beings as well as for himself.

n.131

The “knowledge of exhaustion of defilements” is one of the five or six (see glossary “superknowledges”); hence the paradox.

n.132

K supplies the location here.

n.133

K has “The domain of the holy eightfold path, where one delights in the unlimited path of the Buddha…” The preceding statements concerning the four foci of mindulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of magical powers, the five spiritual faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the eightfold noble path (from K) are the practices known as the “thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.”

n.134

A critique of those who interpret the four noble truths dualistically.

n.135

That is, production of nirvāṇa and destruction of defilements.

n.136

This concludes Vimalakīrti’s definition of the “religion” of Buddhism in its true sense. Any personal interest (i.e., selfish interest) in anything, even “Dharma,” “nirvāṇa,” etc., is nonetheless a selfish interest, and the Dharma obtains only in the absence of selfish interest.

n.137

That is, through his miraculous power of teleportation.

n.138

This enthronement of the audience for a religious discourse is most remarkable in the light of Buddhist tradition, where there is an explicit interdiction against teaching the Dharma to anyone who is seated even a few inches higher than the teacher. It is another instance of a tantric tinge, as the initiate is symbolically enthroned by the preceptor to receive the consecrations.

n.139

The “inconceivable liberation” is said later (5.19) to be only a fragment of an inconceivably great teaching. As Lamotte points out (p 250, n 11), this probably refers to the teaching of the Avataṃsaka, which is also known as Acintyavimokṣasūtra. This highlights the uniqueness of Vimalakīrti, who encompasses quintessentially the major doctrines of both Prajñāpāramitā and Avataṃsaka, the former emphasizing wisdom and the latter, liberative art.

n.140

These deities abide, respectively, on the four sides of Sumeru and on the summit.

n.141

A reminder that all these miraculous feats are only for the purpose of disciplining living beings. Similarly, only those hearers who are imaginatively sensitive to the extraordinary warp of dimensional distortion set up by Vimalakīrti will understand the inconceivable weave of his instruction in the inconceivable liberation.

n.142

K is more brief here, giving essentially the second of the three sentences in this paragraph. He is as explicit as Tib.

n.143

There is little doubt that this refers to the same teaching given in the Avataṃsaka. It is, however, highly questionable whether it mentions any particular text, as Tib. bstan pa (Skt. nirdeśa) is “teaching” rather than a “text,” as in Vimalakīrtinirdeśa (teaching of Vimalakīrti).

n.144

Kāśyapa brings up an interesting point: from the Mahāyāna viewpoint the arhats of the Individual Vehicle are less fortunate than even the beginner bodhisattvas because, having eliminated their personal suffering, they cannot easily empathize with other living beings and hence find it hard to be inspired with great compassion. This makes their progress from arhat to full buddhahood much slower than that of the bodhisattva. This loss of opportunity occasions the “cry of regret.”

n.145

Although Vimalakīrti might seem to be relentless in thus demolishing Mahākāśyapa’s notion of evil (his rigid dualism that holds Māra as the opposite of liberation and virtue), just as the great disciple was filled with despair at his own sense of inadequacy before the teaching of inconceivability, Vimalakīrti actually is encouraging him. Things, even māras, are not what they seem, and if Māra can be a bodhisattva, then possibly a great disciple might attain to the Mahāyāna more easily than his habitual notions might allow him to think.

n.146

This is the definition of the highest type of compassion: “non-objectifying great compassion” (anupalambhamahākaruṇā). Thus such compassion is pure sensitivity, with no cognitive grasp on any person or thing as the identifiable object of its powerful feeling (see glossary, “great compassion”).

n.147

Mañjuśrī voices the pressing question about the great love and compassion of the bodhisattva: seeing living beings as nonexistent, how can he feel love and compassion for them? As Vimalakīrti indicates, the bodhisattva’s love is not merely commiseration but a spontaneous overflow of his great joy and relief in realizing the radiant nature of reality. Although he grasps no living being, he, being empty of himself, is utterly sensitive to the oppressive gravity of the “living being” feeling of others, and his love is an outpouring of his awareness of their true nature.

n.148

The folk etymology of arhat is arīnāṃ hantṛ—“killer of enemies” (passions and ignorance).

n.149

K: “…because it is causeless.”

n.150

K and X: “…because it is always opportune.”

n.151

K and X: “It is the rendering of blessings without expectation of return.”

n.152

That is, the protection of the Buddha is found, not in mere dependence on him, but in self-reliant cultivation of one’s own positive mind.

n.153

This famous dialogue is quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, pp 80, 81. Śāntideva introduces the quote by the following remark: “If the superficial reality is baseless, how can it be either valid or invalid? (Its validity is comparable to) the illusion of a man (which can arise) even without a post being there (to be misperceived). And furthermore, where is the advocate of voidness who admits the ultimate existence of a post that would serve as basis of the false perception of a man? Thus, all things are rootless, their root not being established in reality.”

n.154

Monks are not allowed to wear garlands or perfumes, etc.

n.155

Since the bodhisattvas have purged their subconsciousnesses of the instinctual roots of emotional habit-patterns, they do not fear the surface manifestations of passions inevitable in worldly life because these cannot affect them deeply.

n.156

K: “Liberation is neither within nor without, nor in between.”

n.157

Here Śāriputra’s silence fails where Vimalakīrti’s famous silence on the subject of nonduality succeeds (see n.184). Thus silence per se is not necessarily reflective of highest wisdom.

n.158

The Individual Vehicle followers, from the bodhisattva point of view.

n.159

For numerous references concerning the Mahāyāna doctrine of the “unique vehicle” (ekayāna), most explicitly stated in the Lotus Sūtra, see Lamotte, p 275, n 32.

n.160

According to Lamotte (p 278, n 34), this refers to four famous treasures, each guarded by a great nāga-king; by Pińgala at Kaliṅga, Pāṇḍuka at Mithila, Elapātra at Gandhāra, and Śankho at Kāśi (Benares).

n.161

Skt. has siṃhanādanādī; Tib. has seng ge bsgrags pa, which would suggest “Siṃhakīrti.”

n.162

Lamotte (p 220, n 3; p 280, n 36) follows K and his commentators in identifying this “Dharma-door” with the sūtra called Tathāgātācintyaguhyanirdeśa (Toh 47). However, it does not seem quite certain that so many tathāgatas would be required to expound the same text. Rather, it seems that this assembly of tathāgatas refers to the formation of a cosmic maṇḍala, such as is formed in the first chapter of Guhyasamājatantra, and the “secrets of the tathāgatas” would then be the general name for any sort of tantric teaching. This would bear out the description of Vimalakīrti as understanding “the mundane and transcendental sciences and esoteric practices” (p 21) and (by Mañjuśrī) as penetrating “all the esoteric mysteries of the bodhisattvas and the buddhas” (p 42). This evidence can have been overlooked by scholars of great erudition only because of their firm conviction that tantrism did not exist in India at the time of Vimalakīrti, or even of that sūtra. Scholars native to the Buddhist tradition would disagree.

n.163

Śāriputra evidences his belief that enlightenment can be obtained only by men, and that women must first reincarnate in male form to reach the highest goal. Thus he cannot understand why the goddess would not use her power to become a man.

n.164

This whole incident is quite similar to an exchange that takes place between Śāriputra and the daughter of Sāgara, the nāga-king, in the Lotus Sūtra (pp 250-254). For an interesting discussion of the prejudice against females in Buddhism in general and of the Mādhyamika negation of this prejudice as executed, for example, by the goddess, see Lamotte, p 280, n 37.

n.165

That is, the miraculous Mahāyāna.

n.166

That is, the jewel of the spirit of enlightenment.

n.167

This translation follows K and X, as Tib., “He follows the ways of the elements and the sense-media, yet…” is obscure.

n.168

The disciples are bereft of the emotional patterns related to inspiration, aspiration, etc., which are necessary to form an intense high resolve to attain anything. The bodhisattva does not catch up with them in wisdom until he reaches the eighth stage (acalā), the “immovable”; hence he retains the emotional structure necessary for cultivation of great compassion until that high stage.

n.169

See notes n.7 and n.128.

n.170

K: “With the undefiled qualities as trees.”

n.171

Tib. and Skt. have only “Covered with pure lotuses.” K gives “seven purities”: purity of (1) body and voice, or morality, (2) mind, (3) self-control, or vision, (4) resolution of doubts, (5) discernment of paths, (6) knowledge and insight into bondage, and (7) nirvāṇa. See Lamotte, p 294, n 26.

n.172

Following K and X.

n.173

Following K and X.

n.174

K and X: “Although he knows that the buddhafields are void like living beings, he practices purification of buddhafields to teach and civilize those living beings.”

n.175

The three periods of time mentioned in this and the two preceding stanzas are part of the Buddhist scheme of the evolution and devolution of the world. A great eon (mahākalpa) contains four eons (kalpa). Each of the four eons contains twenty intermediate eons (antarakalpa). Our world lasts for twenty of these intermediate eons. At the end of each intermediate eon, except for the first and the twentieth, three periods of time occur during which various disasters befall the human beings of that period. The first, the time of swords, lasts seven days, and men go crazy and murder each other. The second, the time of sickness, lasts seven months and seven days, and human beings are stricken with plagues. The third lasts seven years, seven months, and seven days; there is drought and extreme misery of starvation. (See Abhidharmakośa III, p 207; Lamotte, p 296, n 37.)

n.176

Skt. agnimadhye yathā padmaṃ abhūtaṃ taṃ vinirdiśet | evaṃ kāmāmś ca dhyānaṃ ca abhūtaṃ te vidarśayī (from Śikṣāsamuccaya); agnimadhye yathā padmam adbhutaṃ pi vidarśayet | evaṃ kāmāṃś ca dhyānaṃ ca adbhutaṃ te vidarśayi (from Potala MS). The Ch. variant here (McRae, 2004: “For a lotus flower to be born in the midst of fire / Can certainly be called rare! / To practice dhyāna within the desires—/ This is just as rare”) is unsupported by the Skt.

n.177

“Nonduality” (advayatva) = “Middle Path” (madhyamapratipat) = freedom from extremes of being and nothingness (antadvayavivarjita). For numerous references, see Lamotte, pp 301-302, n 1.

n.178

Skt. yan nopādadāti tan nopalabhate, tatrohāpohaṃ na karoti. These two correspond to “realism” and “nihilism,” respectively, in the system of the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, the basis of Āryāsaṅga’s elaboration of the “mind-only” philosophy. In terms of the “three-nature” (trilakṣana) theory, realism involves confusion of the conceptually constructed with the relative, and nihilism involves repudiation of all three natures through repudiation of the relative along with the conceptually constructed.

n.179

Small differences in K and X do not affect the meaning. “Uniqueness” corresponds to realism, the idea that each thing has its special character as a fixed essence. “Characterlessness” corresponds to nihilism.

n.180

K and X differ: “ ‘Creation’ (Skt. saṃskṛta; Ch. 有為 ) and ‘noncreation’ (Skt. asaṃskṛta; Ch. 無為 ) are dualistic…,” etc. (The rest is parallel.) Actually, what is saṃskṛta is miserable, and what is asaṃskṛta is nirvāṇa, i.e., happiness. Thus this difference is not significant.

n.181

X: “ ‘Destructible’ and ‘indestructible’ are dualistic. Knowing there to be nothing destroyed or undestroyed, the bodhisattva calls ‘destructible’ what is utterly destroyed. Utterly destroyed, it is not to be destroyed. The destruction is instantaneous, yet there is no production or destruction in an instant, so it is actually indestructible. There being no ‘destruction’ in reality, there is no ‘indestructibility.’ To realize their voidness by nature is the entrance….” K is more brief, but essentially in agreement. It should be remembered here that “destructible” = the relative, and “indestructible” = the absolute. Thus, Pratyakṣadarśa is affirming that the superficial is the ultimate, etc. See 10.20-10.23.

n.182

K: “The four elements and the void are twain. But the nature of the four elements is the nature of the void. The past and the future are void, thus the present is also void. To know the nature of the elements in this way is to enter….”

n.183

One of the synonyms of voidness is “truthlessness,” (Tib. bden par med pa), truth being a relative validity and the ultimate being beyond truth and falsehood. Last two sentences follow X.

n.184

This is the most famous moment of the sūtra: Vimalakīrti’s moment of sīlence on the subject of nonduality, i.e., the ultimate. It is noteworthy, however, that Vimalakīrti does talk a great deal about the ultimate on many other occasions; his silence here is given its special impact by the series of profound statements preceding it, which culminate in the statement of Mañjuśrī to the effect that silence is itself the best explanation of nonduality. Hence all silence is not to be exaggeratedly taken as the profoundest teaching, but only such a silence in the special context of profound thought on the ultimate. For example, the silences of the disciples in Chap. 3, as they became speechless when confronted by the eloquent criticism of Vimalakīrti, are not taken to be profound; nor is the silence of Śāriputra when questioned by the goddess in Chap. 8 accepted as anything extraordinary. Candrakīrti, in his Prasannapadā (p 57, I.7-8), has this to say in regard to the question as to whether the enlightened ones employ logical arguments or not: “Who can say if the noble ones (employ logical arguments) or not? The ultimate is inherent (even) in the ‘keeping silent of the noble ones.’ What then would cause us to imagine whether they employ logical arguments or do not employ logical arguments?” It is important to note that equating the ultimate with the “keeping silent of the noble ones” in no way precludes the ultimacy of their speech. As the Goddess says to Śāriputra (6.20): “…do not point to liberation by abandoning speech! Why? The holy liberation is the equality of all things!” Thus, to imitate the sūtra’s pattern of expression: “Silence” and “speech” are dualistic. Just as speech is ultimately meaningless, so silence exists only in contrast with speech. Penetration into the equality of silence and speech is the entrance. (see Lamotte, pp 317-318, n 43).

n.185

Those of the bodhisattvas who are monks, or who maintain ascetic practices, are allowed to eat only before noon; otherwise they must wait until dawn of the next day.

n.186

According to K and X, he was seen rising in the air; but Tib. has it that his speed was invisibly swift.

n.187

As there is no Disciple Vehicle, much less ordinary individuals, in that exalted universe (see 9.2), they do not even know what might be meant by “aspire to inferior ways.”

n.188

Thus Vimalakīrti is praised as having the full mastery of the operations of the nirmāṇakāya (incarnation-body of the Buddha), i.e., as indistinguishable from the buddhas.

n.189

See glossary, “ten sins.”

n.190

Vimalakīrti epitomizes for the guest-bodhisattvas the teachings of the First Wheel of Dharma, that of the four noble truths, the basis of the Disciple Vehicle practice, and the Abhidharma philosophy.

n.191

This paragraph is modified in style with the help of X.

n.192

Skt. Śāstṛ, i.e., Buddha.

n.193

Ānanda, as well as being “foremost of attendants” (see n.88), was also styled by the Buddha as the “foremost of the learned” (Skt. bahuśrutānām agryaḥ) and as the “foremost of those endowed with memory and retention” (Skt. smṛtidhāraṇīprāptānām agryaḥ). Thus he was the one who remembered the vast body of the sūtras and recited them from memory during the first collection of the Sūtra Pitaka, after the Buddha’s passing into final liberation.

n.194

That is, destructible (Skt. kṣaya) = compounded (Skt. saṃskṛta) = the superficial (Skt. saṃvṛtti) = saṃsāra. Indestructible (akṣaya) = uncompounded (Skt. asaṁskṛta) = the ultimate (Skt. paramārtha) = nirvāṇa.

n.195

That is, the bodhisattva does not put an end to saṃsāra for himself alone, nor does he seek ultimate repose in the Disciple Vehicle nirvāṇa. The following instruction represents the Buddha’s own summation of the bodhisattva’s reconciliation of dichotomies that Vimalakīrti has been expounding throughout the sūtra.

n.196

Immoral persons, along with other living beings who suffer their immoral acts, provide the bodhisattva the opportunity to expiate through suffering any traces of bad karma, as well as to practice generosity, tolerance, etc., and eventually to gather into the discipline those same immoral persons.

n.197

Skt. apratihatapratibhāṇa. This is another synonym for buddhahood because only at that stage does the turning of the Wheel of Dharma become automatic, effortless, and irresistible.

n.198

Skt. bodhisattvasaṅgha. The third Jewel, the Saṅgha, is defined in two ways: as the disciple community (śrāvakasaṅgha) and as the bodhisattva community (bodhisattvasaṅgha). Thus, from the Mahāyāna viewpoint, not only Disciple Vehicle monks but also bodhisattvas constitute the Saṅgha.

n.199

The sixth superknowledge (āsravakṣayajñāna) is attained only by arhats, of whom the Buddha is foremost.

n.200

That is, he does not wish his own ultimate liberation until it is time for the ultimate liberation of all living beings.

n.201

Tib. chos kyi rtsi ba thams cad sgrub pa’i phyir ’dus ma byas la mi gnas so/ ’di tar chos chung ngu’i sman sbyor ba’i phyir ’dus byas zad par mi byed do. This sentence is absent in K and X.

n.202

Tib. gzugs kyi de bzhin nyid kyi rang bzhin, Skt. rūpatathatāsvabhāva, i.e., voidness, as “essence which is reality” is a euphemism for “essencelessness” (niḥsvabhāvatā). Thus the Tathāgata is the voidness of matter, i.e., matter in the ultimate sense, not mere relative matter—and so on for the remaining four aggregates. For interesting references on the ultimate nonexistence of the Tathāgata, see Lamotte, p 355, n 1. The reference given there is worth repeating here (from Prasannapadā, p 435, quoting a Vaipulyasūtra): “Those who see me by means of form, or who follow me by means of sound—they are involved with false and ruinous views and will never see me at all. The buddhas are to be seen by means of ultimate reality, since those leaders are Dharma-bodies, and ultimate reality is impossible to know, as it is not an object of discernment.”

n.203

K and X: “He lives neither in any place, nor in no place.”

n.204

Tib. smra ba dang spyod pa thams cad shin tu chad pa, but Skt. has sarvarutavyāhārasamucchinnaḥ, “the destruction of all utterance and language.”

n.205

K and X have “worry.”

n.206

Skt. acintyavikurvaṇanayapraveśanirdeśa. This is a description, not a title of the sūtra, as it is not mentioned at the end of this chapter, where the Buddha gives the titles to Ānanda.

n.207

Skt. Acintyavimokṣanirdeśa

n.208

These names of the Buddha form part of a traditional litany consisting of eighty names. See Mahāvyutpatti, nos. 1-80.

n.209

i.e. Vajrapāṇi.

n.210

These are called the “four reliances” and are usually given in a different order: see glossary.

n.211

See n.124.

n.212

According to this belief, in the blessed eon of one thousand buddhas, Śākyamuni is the fourth, and Maitreya will be the fifth to incarnate in this Sahā universe.

n.213

Skt. Vimalakīrtinirdeśa.

n.214

Skt. Yamakapuṭavyatyastanihāra.

n.215

Skt. Acintyadharmavimokṣaparivarta. In regard to these titles, see Introduction, i.9 and i.12

Bibliography

Tibetan and Sanskrit sources

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh. 176, Degé Kangyur, vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 175b–239a.

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra). [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 60, pp. 476–635.

Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 梵文維摩經 : ポタラ宮所蔵写本に基づく校訂. Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, A Sanskrit Edition Based upon the Manuscript Newly Found at the Potala Palace. Tokyo: Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism, Taishō Daigaku Shuppankai, 2006.

Translations of this text

Lamotte, Étienne. L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa). Louvain: Université de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste, 1962. [Translated from Tib. and Xuanzang’s Chinese].

Luk, Charles (tr.). The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra. Berkeley and London: Shambhala, 1972. [Translated from Kumārajīva’s Chinese].

McRae, John R. (tr.). The Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2004. [Translated from Kumārajīva’s Chinese].

Canonical references

Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra. Sanskrit text: see Lamotte 1935. Tibetan text: ’phags pa dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 106, Degé Kangyur vol. 49 (mdo sde, tsha), folios 1b–55b. English translation: see Buddhavacana Translation Group.https://read.84000.co/translation/toh106.html

Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. Sanskrit text: see Vaidya 1960, Wogihara et al. 1934-1935. Tibetan text: dpal dam chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 113, Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sed, ja), folios 1b–180b. English translations: see Kern 1884; Roberts, 2018.

Guhyasamājatantra. Sanskrit text: see Bagchi 1965. Tibetan text: de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi sku gsung thugs kyi gsang chen gsang ba ’dus pa zhes bya ba brtag pa’i rgyal po chen po, Toh 442, Degé Kangyur vol. 81 (rgyud ’bum, ca), folios 89b–148a.

Candrakīrti. Prasannapadānāmamūlamadhyamakavṛtti. Sanskrit text: see La Vallée Poussin 1903-1912. Tibetan text: dbu ma rtsa ba’i ’grel pa tshig gsal ba, Toh 3860, Degé Tengyur vol. 102 (dbu ma, ’a), folios 1b–200a.

Nāgārjuna. Prajñanāmamūlamādhyamakakārikā. Sanskrit text and translation: see Inada 1970. Tibetan text: dbu ma rtsa ba’i tshig le’ur byas pa shes rab, Toh 3824, Degé Tengyur vol. 96 (dbu ma, tsa), folios 1b–19a.

Śāntideva. Śikṣāsamuccaya. Sanskrit text: see Vaidya, 1961. Tibetan text: bslab pa kun las btus pa, Toh 3940, Degé Tengyur vol. 111 (dbu ma, khi), folios 3a–194b. English translation: see Goodman 2016.

Editions and translations of works referenced

Bagchi, S. (ed.). Guhyasamājatantra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, No. 9. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1965.

Buddhavacana Translation Group. The Sūtra Unravelling the Intent (Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra, Toh 106). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.https://read.84000.co/translation/toh106.html

Dayal, Har. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 1932. Reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970.

Goodman, Charles. The Training Anthology of Śāntideva: A Translation of the Śikṣā-samuccaya. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Inada, K. Nāgārjuna. Buffalo, N.Y., 1970.

Kern, H. (ed.). Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka, or Lotus of the True Law. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXI. Oxford: Clarendon, 1884.

Lamotte, Étienne (tr.). Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra: L’Explication des mystères. [Tib. text and French translation]. Louvain: Université de Louvain; and Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1935.

La Vallée Poussin, L. de (ed.). Mūlamadhyamakakārikās (Mādhyamikasūtras) de Nāgārjuna avec la Prasannapadā, commentaire de Candrakīrti . Bibliotheca Buddhica IV. St. Petersburg: Académie Impériale des sciences, 1903-1913.

Roberts, Peter (tr.). The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, Toh 113). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018 (read.84000.co).

Sakaki (ed.). Mahāvyutpatti, Skt.-Tib. lexicon. Kyoto, 1916-1925.

Vaidya, P. L. (ed.) Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960.

———(ed.). Śikṣāsamuccaya of Śāntideva. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, No. 11. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1961.

Wogihara, Unrai and Tsuchida, Chikao. Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtram: Romanized and Revised Text of the Bibliotheca Buddhica publication by consulting a Sanskrit Ms. & Tibetan and Chinese translations. Tōkyō: Seigo-Kenkyūkai, 1934–1935.

Glossary

g.1

Abhidharma

chos mngon pa

ཆོས་མངོན་པ།

Abhidharma

Conventionally, the general name for the Buddhist teachings presented in a scientific manner, as a fully elaborated transcendental psychology. As one of the branches of the Canon, it corresponds to the discipline of wisdom (the Sūtras corresponding to meditation, and the Vinaya to morality). Ultimately the Abhidharma is “pure wisdom, with its coordinate mental functions” (Prajñāmalā sānucārā), according to Vasubandhu.

g.2

Abhidharmakośa

chos mngon pa’i mdzod

ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་མཛོད།

Abhidharmakośa

An important work written by Vasubandhu, probably in the fourth century, as a critical compendium of the Abhidharmic science.

g.3

Abhirati

mngon par dga’ ba

མངོན་པར་དགའ་བ།

Abhirati

Lit. “Intense Delight.” The universe, or buddhafield of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya, lying in the east beyond innumerable galaxies, whence Vimalakīrti came to reincarnate in our Sahā universe.

g.4

Absence of self

bdag med pa

བདག་མེད་པ།

anātmatā
nairātmya

This describes actual reality, as finally there is no enduring person himself or thing itself, since persons and things exist only in the relative, conventional, or superficial sense, and not in any ultimate or absolute sense. To understand Buddhist teaching correctly, we must be clear about the two senses (conventional/ultimate, or relative/absolute), since mistaking denial of ultimate self as denial of conventional self leads to nihilism, and mistaking affirmation of conventional self as affirmation of ultimate self leads to absolutism. Nihilism and absolutism effectively prevent us from realizing our enlightenment, hence are to be avoided.

g.5

Absorption

snyom ’jug

སྙོམ་འཇུག

samāpatti

“Absorption” has been translated as “meditation,” “contemplation,” “attainment,” etc., and any of these words might serve. The problem is to establish one English word for each of the important Sanskrit words samāpatti, dhyāna, samādhi, bhāvanā, etc., so as to preserve a consistency with the original. Therefore, I have adopted for these terms, respectively, “absorption,” “contemplation,” “concentration” and “realization” or “cultivation,” reserving the word “meditation” for general use with any of the terms when they are used not in a specific sense but to indicate mind-practice in general.

g.6

Affliction

nyon mongs

ཉོན་མོངས།

kleśa

Desire, hatred and anger, dullness, pride, and jealousy, as well as all their derivatives, said to number 84,000. Also translated “passions.”

g.7

Aggregate

phung po

ཕུང་པོ།

skandha

This translation of skandha is fairly well established, although some prefer the monosyllabic “group.” It is important to bear in mind that the original skandha has the sense of “pile,” or “heap,” which has the connotation of utter lack of internal structure, of a randomly collocated pile of things; thus “group” may convey a false connotation of structure and ordered arrangement. The five “compulsive” (upādāna) aggregates are of great importance as a schema for introspective meditation in the Abhidharma, wherein each is defined with the greatest subtlety and precision. In fact, the five terms rūpa, vedanā, samjñā, saṃskāra, and vijñāna have such a particular technical sense that many translators have preferred to leave them untranslated. Nevertheless, in the sūtra context, where the five are meant rather more simply to represent the relative living being (in the realm of desire), it seems preferable to give a translation—in spite of the drawbacks of each possible term—in order to convey the same sense of a total categorization of the psychophysical complex. Thus, for rūpa, “matter” is preferred to “form” because it more concretely connotes the physical and gross; for vedanā, “sensation” is adopted, as limited to the aesthetic; for samjñā, “intellect” is useful in conveying the sense of verbal, conceptual intelligence. For samskāra, which covers a number of mental functions as well as inanimate forces, “motivation” gives a general idea. And “consciousness” is so well established for vijñāna (although what we normally think of as consciousness is more like samjñā, i.e., conceptual and notional, and vijñāna is rather the “pure awareness” prior to concepts) as to be left unchallenged.

g.8

Aids to enlightenment

byang chub kyi phyogs kyi chos

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཆོས།

bodhipakṣikadharma

See “thirty-seven aids to enlightenment”

g.9

Ajita Keśakambala

mi pham sgra’i la ba can

མི་ཕམ་སྒྲའི་ལ་བ་ཅན།

Ajita Keśakambala

One of the six outsider teachers defeated by the Buddha at Śrāvastī.

g.10

Akaniṣṭha

’og min

འོག་མིན།

Akaniṣṭha

The highest heaven of the form-world, where a buddha always receives the anointment of the ultimate wisdom, reaching there mentally from his seat of enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree.

g.11

Akṣayamati

blo gros mi zad pa

བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པ།

Akṣayamati

A bodhisattva in the assembly at Vimalakīrti’s house, often figuring in other Mahāyāna sūtras, especially Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra.

g.12

Akṣobhya

mi ’khrugs pa

མི་འཁྲུགས་པ།

Akṣobhya

Buddha of the universe Abhirati, presiding over the eastern direction; also prominent in tantric works as one of the five dhyāni buddhas, or tathāgatas (see Lamotte, pp. 360-362, n. 9).

g.13

Amitābha

snang ba mtha’ yas

སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས།

Amitābha

The Buddha of boundless light; one of the five Tathāgatas in Tantrism; a visitor in Vimalakīrti’s house, according to the goddess’s report.

g.14

Āmrapālī

a mra srung ba

ཨ་མྲ་སྲུང་བ།

Āmrapālī

A courtesan of Vaiśālī who gave her garden to the Buddha and his retinue, where they stay during the events of the sūtra.

g.15

Ānanda

kun dga’ bo

ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།

Ānanda

A major śrāvaka disciple of the Buddha; his personal attendant. See also n.88 and n.193.

g.16

Anantaguṇaratnavyūha

yon tan rin chen mtha’ yas bkod pa

ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མཐའ་ཡས་བཀོད་པ།

Anantaguṇaratnavyūha

Lit. “infinite array of jewel-qualities.” A universe of Buddha Ratnavyūha, also mentioned in the Lalitavistarasūtra.

g.17

Anārambaṇadhyāyin

dmigs pa med pa’i bsam gtan

དམིགས་པ་མེད་པའི་བསམ་གཏན།

Anārambaṇadhyāyin

g.18

Anikṣiptadhura

brtson pa mi ’dor ba

བརྩོན་པ་མི་འདོར་བ།

Anikṣiptadhura

g.19

Aniruddha

ma ’gags pa

མ་འགགས་པ།

Aniruddha

A śrāvaka disciple and cousin of the Buddha who was famed for his meditative prowess and superknowledges. See also n.78.

g.20

Arhat

dgra bcom pa

དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།

arhat

According to Buddhist tradition, one who has conquered his enemy passions (kleśa-ari-hata) and reached the supreme purity. The term can refer to buddhas as well as to those who have reached realization of the Disciple Vehicle.

g.21

Āryadeva

’phags pa lha

འཕགས་པ་ལྷ།

Āryadeva

One of the great masters of Indian Buddhism. The main disciple of Nāgārjuna, he lived in the early a.d. centuries and wrote numerous important works of Mādhyamika philosophy.

g.22

Āryāsaṅga

’phags pa thogs med
thogs med

འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད།
ཐོགས་མེད།

Āryāsaṅga
Asaṅga

This great Indian philosopher lived in the fourth century and was the founder of the Vijñānavāda, or “Consciousness-Only,” school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

g.23

Aśoka

mya ngan med pa

མྱ་ངན་མེད་པ།

Aśoka

Universe whence comes the Brahmā Śikhin.

g.24

Asura

lha ma yin

ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།

asura

Titan .

g.25

Auspicious signs and marks

mtshan dang dpe byad bzang po

མཚན་དང་དཔེ་བྱད་བཟང་པོ།

lakṣaṇānuvyañjana

The thirty-two signs and the eighty marks of a superior being.

g.26

Avalokiteśvara

spyan ras gzigs kyi dbang phyug

སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག

Avalokiteśvara

A bodhisattva emblematic of the great compassion; of great importance in Tibet as special protector of the religious life of the country and in China, in female form, as Kwanyin, protectress of women, children, and animals.

g.27

Avataṃsaka

phal po che

ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ།

Avataṃsaka

This vast Mahāyāna sūtra (also called the Buddhāvataṃsaka) deals with the miraculous side of the Mahāyāna. It is important in relation to the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, since the latter’s fifth chapter, “The Inconceivable Liberation,” is a highly abbreviated version of the essential teaching of the former.

g.28

Bad migrations

ngan song

ངན་སོང་།

durgati

The three bad migrations are those of (1) denizens of hells, (2) inhabitants of the “limbo” of the pretaloka, where one wanders as an insatiably hungry and thirsty wretch, and (3) animals, who are trapped in the pattern of mutual devouring (Tib. gcig la gcig za).

g.29

Basic precepts

bslab pa’i gzhi rnams

བསླབ་པའི་གཞི་རྣམས།

sikṣāpada

These basic precepts are five in number for the laity: (1) not killing, (2) not stealing, (3) chastity, (4) not lying, and (5) avoiding intoxicants. For monks, there are three or five more; avoidance of such things as perfumes, makeup, ointments, garlands, high beds, and afternoon meals.

g.30

Bhaiṣajyarāja

sman gyi rgyal po

སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Bhaiṣajyarāja

Lit. “King of Healers.” In the story of Śākyamuni’s former life in this sūtra, he is the tathāgata of the universe Mahāvyūha, during the eon called Vicaraṇa, who taught Prince Candracchattra about Dharma-worship. In later Buddhism, this buddha is believed to be the supernatural patron of healing and medicine.

g.31

Bhāvaviveka

legs ldan ’byed

ལེགས་ལྡན་འབྱེད།

Bhāvaviveka

(c. a.d. 400). A major Indian philosopher, a master of the Mādhyamika school of Buddhism, who founded a sub-school known as Svātantrika.

g.32

Bhikṣu

dge slong

དགེ་སློང་།

bhikṣu

Lit. “beggar.” Buddhist mendicant monk; bhikṣuṇī is the female counterpart.

g.33

Billion-world galaxy

stong gsum gyi stong chen po’i ’jig rten gyi khams

སྟོང་གསུམ་གྱི་སྟོང་ཆེན་པོའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།

trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu

Lit. “three-thousand-great-thousand-world realm.” Each of these is composed of one thousand realms, each of which contains one thousand realms, each of which contains one thousand realms = one thousand to the third power = one billion worlds.

g.34

Birthlessness

mi skye ba

མི་སྐྱེ་བ།

anutpādatva

This refers to the ultimate nature of reality, to the fact that, ultimately, nothing has ever been produced or born nor will it ever be because birth and production can occur only on the relative, or superficial, level. Hence “birthlessness” is a synonym of “voidness,” “reality,” “absolute,” “ultimate,” “infinity,” etc.

g.35

Bodhisattva

byang chub sems dpa’

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།

bodhisattva

A living being who has produced the spirit of enlightenment in himself and whose constant dedication, lifetime after lifetime, is to attain the unexcelled, perfect enlightenment of Buddhahood.

g.36

Body of Dharma

chos kyi sku

ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ།

dharmakāya

Also translated “ultimate body.”

g.37

Brahmā

tshangs pa

ཚངས་པ།

Brahmā

Creator-lord of a universe, there being as many as there are universes, whose number is incalculable. Hence, in Buddhist belief, a title of a deity who has attained supremacy in a particular universe, rather than a personal name. For example, the Brahmā of the Aśoka universe is personally called Śikhin, to distinguish him from other Brahmās. A Brahmā resides at the summit of the realm of pure matter (rūpadhātu), and is thus higher in status than a Śakra.

g.38

Brahmajāla

tshangs pa’i dra ba

ཚངས་པའི་དྲ་བ།

Brahmajāla

g.39

Buddha

sangs rgyas

སངས་རྒྱས།

buddha

Lit. “awakened one.” Title of one who has attained the highest attainment possible for a living being. “The Buddha” often designates Śākyamuni because he is the buddha mainly in charge of the buddhafield of our Sahā universe.

g.40

Buddha Gaya

Buddha Gaya

Ancient name for the town in Bihar province, where the Buddha attained his highest enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree. Modern name, Bodhgaya.

g.41

Buddhafield

sangs rgyas kyi zhing

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་།

buddhakṣetra

Roughly, a synonym for “universe,” although Buddhist cosmology contains many universes of different types and dimensions. “Buddhafield” indicates, in regard to whatever type of world-sphere, that it is the field of influence of a particular Buddha. For a detailed discussion of these concepts, see Lamotte, Appendice, Note I.

g.42

Buddhapālita

sangs rgyas bskyang

སངས་རྒྱས་བསྐྱང་།

Buddhapālita

(c. fourth century). A great Mādhyamika master, who was later regarded as the founder of the Prāsaṅgika sub-school.

g.43

Buddhāvataṃsaka

sangs rgyas phal po che

སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ།

Buddhāvataṃsaka

See Avataṃsaka.

g.44

Cakravāḍa

khor yug

ཁོར་ཡུག

Cakravāḍa

A mountain in this sūtra and many others; but, in systematized Buddhist cosmology, the name of the ring of mountains that surrounds the world.

g.45

Candracchattra

zla gdugs

ཟླ་གདུགས།

Candracchattra

(1) Chief of the Licchavi. (2) Son of the king Ratnacchattra, mentioned in the former-life story told by the Buddha to Śakra in Chapter 12.

g.46

Candrakīrti

zla ba grags pa

ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ།

Candrakīrti

(c. sixth century). The most important Mādhyamika philosopher after Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva, he refined the philosophical methods of the school to such a degree that later members of the tradition considered him one of the highest authorities on the subject of the profound nature of reality.

g.47

Canon of the bodhisattvas

byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད།

bodhisattvapiṭaka

The collection of the Vast (vaipulya) Sūtras of the Mahāyāna, supposed to have been collected supernaturally by a great assembly of bodhisattvas led by Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Vajrapāṇi. There is a Mahāyāna sūtra called Bodhisattvapiṭaka, but the word more usually refers to the whole collection (piṭaka) of Mahāyāna sūtras, to distinguish them from the Three Collections (Tripiṭaka) of the Hinayāna.

g.48

Cessation

’gog pa

འགོག་པ།

nirodha

The third Noble Truth, equivalent to nirvāṇa.

g.49

Ch’an

Chinese word for dhyāna, which was adopted as the name of the school of Mahāyāna practice founded by Bodhidharma, and later to become famous in the west as Zen.

g.50

Chönyi Tsültrim

chos nyid tshul khrims

ཆོས་ཉིད་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།

Tibetan translator of this sūtra in the ninth century, also well known for his collaboration in compiling the Mahāvyutpatti (Skt.-Tib. dictionary).

g.51

Cittamātra

sems tsam

སེམས་ཙམ།

Cittamātra

A name of the Vijñānavāda school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy.

g.52

Concentration

ting nge ’dzin

ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།

samādhi

See “absorption.”

g.53

Conception of the spirit of enlightenment

byang chub kyi sems bskyed pa

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པ།

bodhicittotpāda

This can also be rendered by “initiation of…” because it means the mental event occurring when a living being, having been exposed to the teaching of the Buddha or of his magical emanations (e.g., Vimalakīrti), realizes simultaneously his own level of conditioned ignorance, i.e., that his habitual stream of consciousness is like sleep compared to that of one who has awakened from ignorance; the possibility of his own attainment of a higher state of consciousness; and the necessity of attaining it in order to liberate other living beings from their stupefaction. Having realized this possibility, he becomes inspired with the intense ambition to attain, and that is called the “conception of the spirit of enlightenment.” “Spirit” is preferred to “mind” because the mind of enlightenment should rather be the mind of the Buddha, and to “thought” because a “thought of enlightenment” can easily be produced without the initiation of any sort of new resolve or awareness. “Will” also serves very well here.

g.54

Conceptualization

rnam par rtog pa

རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ།

vikalpa

This brings up another important group of words that has never been treated systematically in translation: vikalpa, parikalpa, samāropa, adhyāropa, kalpanā, samjñā, and prapāñca. All of these refer to mental functions that tend to superimpose upon reality, either relative or ultimate, a conceptualized reality fabricated by the subjective mind. Some translators have tended to lump these together under the rubric “discursive thought,” which leads to the misleading notion that all thought is bad, something to be eliminated, and that sheer “thoughtlessness” is “enlightenment,” or whatever higher state is desired. According to Buddhist scholars, thought in itself is simply a function, and only thought that is attached to its own content over and above the relative object, i.e., “egoistic” thought, is bad and to be eliminated. Therefore we have chosen a set of words for the seven Skt. terms: respectively, “conceptualization,” “imagination,” “presumption,” “exaggeration,” “construction,” “conception” or “notion,” and “fabrication.” This does not mean that these words are not somewhat interchangeable or that another English word might not be better in certain contexts; it only represents an attempt to achieve consistency with the original usages.

g.55

Conscious awareness

bag yod pa

བག་ཡོད་པ།

apramāda

This denotes a type of awareness of the most seemingly insignificant aspects of practical life, an awareness derived as a consequence of the highest realization of the ultimate nature of reality. As it is stated in the Anavataptanāgarājaparipṛcchāsūtra (Toh 156): “He who realizes voidness, that person is consciously aware.” “Ultimate realization,” far from obliterating the relative world, brings it into highly specific, albeit dreamlike, focus.

g.56

Consciousness

rnam shes

རྣམ་ཤེས།

vijñāna

See “aggregate.”

g.57

Contemplation

bsam gtan

བསམ་གཏན།

dhyāna

See “absorption.”

g.58

Cosmic wind-atmosphere

rlung gi dkyil ’khor

རླུང་གི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།

vātamaṇḍalī

The ancient cosmology maintained that the cosmos was encircled by an atmosphere of fierce winds of impenetrable intensity (see Lamotte, p. 255, n. 15).

g.59

Decisiveness

nges par sems pa

ངེས་པར་སེམས་པ།

nidhyapti

Analytic concentration that gains insight into the nature of reality, synonymous with “transcendental analysis,” vipaśyana (q.v.).

g.60

Dedication

yongs su bsngo ba

ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།

pariṇāmana

This refers to the bodhisattva’s constant mindfulness of the fact that all his actions of whatever form contribute to his purpose of attaining enlightenment for the sake of himself and others, i.e., his conscious deferral of the merit accruing from any virtuous action as he eschews immediate reward in favor of ultimate enlightenment for himself and all living beings.

g.61

Definitive meaning

nges don

ངེས་དོན།

nītārtha

This refers to those teachings of the Buddha that are in terms of ultimate reality; it is opposed to those teachings given in terms of relative reality, termed “interpretable meaning,” because they require further interpretation before being relied on to indicate the ultimate. Hence definitive meaning relates to voidness, etc., and no statement concerning the relative world, even by the Buddha, can be taken as definitive. This is especially important in the context of the Mādhyamika doctrine, hence in the context of Vimalakīrti’s teachings, because he is constantly correcting the disciples and bodhisattvas who accept interpretable expressions of the Tathāgata as if they were definitive, thereby attaching themselves to them and adopting a one-sided approach.

g.62

Dependent origination

rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba

རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ།

pratītyasamutpāda

Destined for the ultimate

yang dag pa nyid du nges pa

ཡང་དག་པ་ཉིད་དུ་ངེས་པ།

samyaktvaniyata

This generally describes one who has reached the noble path, either in Disciple Vehicle or Mahāyāna practice (see Lamotte, p. 115, n. 65).

g.64

Destiny for the ultimate

nges pa la zhugs pa

ངེས་པ་ལ་ཞུགས་པ།

niyāmāvakrānti

This is the stage attained by followers of the Hinayāna wherein they become determined for the attainment of liberation (nirvāṇa, i.e., the ultimate for them) in such a way as never to regress from their goals, and by bodhisattvas when they attain the holy path of insight.

g.65

Deva

ལྷ།

deva

General term for all sorts of gods and deities.

g.66

Devarāja

lha’i rgyal po

ལྷའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Devarāja

g.67

Dharma

chos

ཆོས།

Dharma

The second of the Three Jewels, that is, the teaching of the Buddha.

g.68

Dharma-door

chos kyi sgo

ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒོ།

dharmamukha

Certain teachings are called “Dharma-doors” (or “doors of the Dharma”), as they provide access to the practice of the Dharma.

g.69

Dharma-eye

chos kyi mig

ཆོས་ཀྱི་མིག

dharmacakṣu

One of the “five eyes,” representing superior insights of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. The five eyes consist of five different faculties of vision: the physical eye (māṃsacakṣu), the divine eye (dīvyacakṣu), the wisdom eye (prajñācakṣu), the Dharma-eye (dharmacakṣu), and the Buddha-eye (buddhacakṣu).

g.70

Dharmaketu

chos kyi tog

ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཏོག

Dharmaketu

g.71

Dharmeśvara

chos kyi dbang phyug

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག

Dharmeśvara

g.72

Divine eye

lha’i mig

ལྷའི་མིག

divyacakṣu

One of the six “superknowledges” (q.v.) as well as one of the “five eyes,” this is the supernormal ability to see to an unlimited distance, observe events on other worlds, see through mountains, etc. The five eyes consist of five different faculties of vision: the physical eye (māṃsacakṣu), the divine eye (dīvyacakṣu), the wisdom eye (prajñācakṣu), the Dharma-eye (dharmacakṣu), and the Buddha-eye (buddhacakṣu).

g.73

Door of the Dharma

chos kyi sgo

ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒོ།

dharmamukha

See “Dharma-door.”

g.74

Duḥprasāha

bzod dka’

བཟོད་དཀའ།

Duḥprasāha

Buddha of the universe Marīci, located sixty-one universes away; mentioned also in other Mahāyāna sūtras, with the interesting coincidence that his teaching ceased at the moment Śākyamuni began teaching at Benares.

g.75

Egoistic views

’jig tshogs la lta ba

འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལ་ལྟ་བ།

satkāyadṛṣṭi

This consists of twenty varieties of false notion, consisting basically of regarding the temporally impermanent and ultimately insubstantial as “I” or “mine.” The five compulsive aggregates are paired with the self, giving the twenty false notions. For example, the first four false notions are that (1) matter is the self, which is like its owner (rūpaṃ ātmā svāmivat); (2) the self possesses matter, like its ornament (rūpavañ ātmā alaņkāravat); (3) matter belongs to the self, like a slave (ātmīyaṃ rūpaṃ bhṛtyavat); and (4) the self dwells in matter as in a vessel (rūpe ātmā bhajanavat). The other four compulsive aggregates are paired with the self in the same four ways, giving sixteen more false notions concerning sensation, intellect, motivation, and consciousness, hypostatizing an impossible relationship with a nonexistent, permanent, substantial self.

g.76

Eight liberations

rnam par thar pa brgyad

རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་བརྒྱད།

vimokṣa

The first consists of the seeing of form by one who has form; the second consists of the seeing of external form by one with the concept of internal formlessness; the third consists of the physical realization of pleasant liberation and its successful consolidation; the fourth consists of the full entrance to the infinity of space through transcending all conceptions of matter, and the subsequent decline of conceptions of resistance and discredit of conceptions of diversity; the fifth consists of full entrance into the infinity of consciousness, having transcended the infinity of space; the sixth consists of the full entrance into the sphere of nothingness, having transcended the sphere of the infinity of consciousness; the seventh consists of the full entrance into the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, having transcended the sphere of nothingness; the eighth consists of the perfect cessation of suffering, having transcended the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. Thus the first three liberations form specific links to the ordinary perceptual world; the fourth to seventh are equivalent to the four absorptions; and the eighth represents the highest attainment.

g.77

Eight perverse paths

log pa brgyad
log pa nyid brgyad

ལོག་པ་བརྒྱད།
ལོག་པ་ཉིད་བརྒྱད།

mithyātva

These consist of the exact opposites of the eight branches of the eightfold noble path (aṣṭāngikamārga).

g.78

Eighteen special qualities of a bodhisattva

byang chub sems dpa’i chos ma ’dres pa bco brgyad

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཆོས་མ་འདྲེས་པ་བཅོ་བརྒྱད།

aṣṭādaśāveṇikabodhisattvadharma

These consist of the bodhisattva’s natural (uninstructed) possession of generosity, morality, tolerance, effort, meditation, and wisdom; of his uniting all beings with the four means of unification, knowing the method of dedication (of virtue to enlightenment), exemplification, through skill in liberative art, of the positive results of the Mahāyāna, as suited to the (various) modes of behavior of all living beings, his not falling from the Mahāyāna, showing the entrances of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, skill in the technique of reconciliation of dichotomies, impeccable progress in all his lives, guided by wisdom without any conditioned activities, possession of ultimate action of body, speech, and mind directed by the tenfold path of good action, nonabandonment of any of the realms of living beings, through his assumption of a body endowed with tolerance of every conceivable suffering, manifestation of that which delights all living beings, inexhaustible preservation of the mind of omniscience, as stable as the virtue-constituted tree of wish-fulfilling gems, (even) in the midst of the infantile (ordinary persons) and (narrow-minded) religious disciples, however trying they might be, and adamant irreversibility from demonstrating the quest of the Dharma of the Buddha, for the sake of the attainment of the miraculous consecration conferring the skill in liberative art that transmutes all things. (Mvy, nos. 787-804)

g.79

Eighteen special qualities of the Buddha

sangs rgyas kyi chos ma ’dres pa bco brgyad

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མ་འདྲེས་པ་བཅོ་བརྒྱད།

aṣṭādaśāveṇikabuddhadharma

They are as follows: He never makes a mistake; he is never boisterous; he never forgets; his concentration never falters; he has no notion of diversity; his equanimity is not due to lack of consideration; his will never falters; his energy never fails; his mindfulness never falters; he never abandons his concentration; his wisdom never decreases; his liberation never fails; all his physical actions are preceded and followed by wisdom; all his verbal actions are preceded and followed by wisdom; all his mental actions are preceded and followed by wisdom; his knowledge and vision perceive the past without any attachment or hindrance; his knowledge and vision perceive the future without any attachment or hindrance; and his knowledge and vision perceive the present without any attachment or hindrance.

g.80

Eightfold noble path

’phags pa’i lam gyi yan lag brgyad

འཕགས་པའི་ལམ་གྱི་ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད།

āryāṣṭāṅgamārga

These are right view (samyagdṛṣṭi), right consideration (samyaksaṃkalpa), right speech (samyakvāk), right terminal action (samyakkarmānta), right livelihood (samyagajiva), right effort (samyagvyāyāma), right remembrance (samyaksmṛti), and right concentration (samyaksamādhi). They are variously defined in the different Buddhist schools. These eight form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment (see entry).

g.81

Element

khams
’byung ba chen po

ཁམས།
འབྱུང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།

dhātu
mahābhūta

Depending on the context, may translate either: (a) Skt. mahābhūta, Tib. ’byung ba chen po, the four “main” or “great” outer elements of earth, water, fire, air, and (when there is a fifth) space; or: (b) Skt. dhātu, Tib. khams, the “eighteen elements” introduce, in the context of the aggregates, elements, and sense-media, the same six pairs as the twelve sense-media, as elements of experience, adding a third member to each set: the element of consciousness (vijñāna), or sense. Hence the first pair gives the triad eye-element (caksurdhātu), form-element (rūpadhātu), and eye-consciousness-element, or eye-sense-element (caksurvijñānadhātu)—and so on with the other five, noting the last, mind-element (manodhātu), phenomena-element (dharmadhātu), and mental-sense-element (manovijñānadhātu).

g.82

Emanated incarnation

sprul pa

སྤྲུལ་པ།

nirmāṇa

This refers to the miraculous power of the Buddha and bodhisattvas of a certain stage to emanate apparently living beings in order to develop and teach living beings. This power reaches its culmination in the nirmāṇakayā, the “incarnation body,” which is one of the three bodies of buddhahood and includes all physical forms of all buddhas, including Śākyamuni, whose sole function as incarnations is the development and liberation of living beings.

g.83

Emptiness

stong pa nyid

སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།

śūnyatā

This Skt. term is usually translated by “voidness” because that English word is more rarely used in other contexts than “emptiness” and does not refer to any sort of ultimate nothingness, as a thing-in-itself, or even as the thing-in-itself to end all things-in-themselves. It is a pure negation of the ultimate existence of anything or, in Buddhist terminology, the “emptiness with respect to personal and phenomenal selves,” or “with respect to identity,” or “with respect to intrinsic nature,” or “with respect to essential substance,” or “with respect to self-existence established by intrinsic identity,” or “with respect to ultimate truth-status,” etc. Thus emptiness is a concept descriptive of the ultimate reality through its pure negation of whatever may be supposed to be ultimately real. It is an absence, hence not existent in itself. It is synonymous therefore with “infinity,” “absolute,” etc.—themselves all negative terms, i.e., formed etymologically from a positive concept by adding a negative prefix (in + finite = not finite; ab + solute = not compounded, etc.). But, since our verbally conditioned mental functions are habituated to the connection of word and thing, we tend to hypostatize a “void,” analogous to “outer space,” a “vacuum,” etc., which we either shrink from as a nihilistic nothingness or become attached to as a liberative nothingness; this great mistake can be cured only by realizing the meaning of the “emptiness of emptiness,” which brings us to the tolerance of inconceivability.

g.84

Enlightenment

byang chub

བྱང་ཆུབ།

bodhi

This word requires too much explanation for this glossary because, indeed, the whole sūtra—and the whole of Buddhist literature—is explanatory of only this. Here we simply mention the translation equivalent.

g.85

Family of the Buddha

sangs rgyas kyi rigs

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རིགས།

buddhakula

Lit. “family” or “lineage of the Buddha.” One becomes a member on the first bodhisattva stage. In another sense, all living beings belong to this exalted family because all have the capacity to wake up to enlightenment, conceiving its spirit within themselves and thenceforward seeking its realization (see Chapter 7).

g.86

Family of the tathāgatas

de bzhin gshegs pa’i rigs

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་རིགས།

tathāgatagotra

This term arises from a classification of beings into different groups (lineages) according to their destinies: disciple lineage, solitary buddha lineage, buddha lineage, etc. The Mādhyamika school, and the sūtras that are its foundation, maintains that all living beings belong to the buddha lineage, that Disciple Vehicle nirvāṇa is not a final destiny, and that arhats must eventually enter the Mahāyāna path. Mañjuśrī carries this idea to the extreme, finding the tathāgata lineage everywhere, in all mundane things. See 7.9, and Lamotte, Appendice, Note VII.

g.87

Fearlessness

mi ’jigs pa

མི་འཇིགས་པ།

vaiśāradya

The Buddha has four fearlessnesses, as do the bodhisattvas. The four fearlessnesses of the Buddha are: fearlessness regarding the realization of all things; fearlessness regarding knowledge of the exhaustion of all impurities; fearlessness of foresight through ascertainment of the persistence of obstructions; and fearlessness in the rightness of the path leading to the attainment of the supreme success. The fearlessnesses of the bodhisattva are: fearlessness in teaching the meaning he has understood from what he has learned and practiced; fearlessness resulting from the successful maintenance of purity in physical, verbal, and mental action—without relying on others’ kindness, being naturally flawless through his understanding of the absence of self; fearlessness resulting from freedom from obstruction in virtue, in teaching, and in delivering living beings, through the perfection of wisdom and liberative art and through not forgetting and constantly upholding the teachings; and fearlessness in the ambition to attain full mastery of omniscience—without any deterioration or deviation to other practices—and to accomplish all the aims of all living beings.

g.88

Female attendants

slas

སླས།

sahacāri

Female attendants who normally assisted the wife of a wealthy householder.

g.89

Five deadly sins

mtshams med lnga

མཚམས་མེད་ལྔ།

ānantarya

Lit. “sins of immediate retribution [after death].” These five, all of which cause immediate rebirth in hell, are killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, breaking up the saṅgha, and causing, with evil intent, the Tathāgata to bleed.

g.90

Five desire objects

’dod pa’i yon tan lnga

འདོད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ལྔ།

pañcakāmaguṇaḥ

Visibles, sound, scent, taste, and tangibles.

g.91

Five obscurations

sgrib pa lnga

སྒྲིབ་པ་ལྔ།

nīvaraṇa

These are five mental impediments that hinder meditation: impediments of desire (kāmacchanda), malice (vyāpāda), depression and sloth (styānamiddha), wildness and excitement (auddhatyakaukṛtya), and doubt, or perplexity (vicikitsa).

g.92

Five powers

stobs lnga

སྟོབས་ལྔ།

bala

These are the same as the five spiritual faculties, at a further stage of development.

g.93

Five spiritual faculties

dbang po lnga

དབང་པོ་ལྔ།

indriya

These are called “faculties” (indriya) by analogy, as they are considered as capacities to be developed: the spiritual faculties for faith (śraddhā), effort (vīrya), mindfulness (smṛti), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajña). These are included in the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

g.94

Four bases of magical power

rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi

རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་རྐང་པ་བཞི།

ṛddhipāda

The first basis of magical power consists of the energy from the conscious cultivation of concentration of will (chandasamādhiprahāṇasaṃskārasamanvāgataḥ). The second consists of the energy from the conscious cultivation of concentration of mind (citta‑). The third consists of concentration of effort (vīrya‑). The fourth consists of concentration of analysis (mīmāṃsa‑). These four form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

g.95

Four epitomes of the Dharma

chos kyi phyag rgya bzhi
bka’ rtags kyi phyag rgya bzhi

ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་བཞི།
བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་བཞི།

dharmoddāna

The four are as follows: All compounded things are impermanent (anityāḥ sarvasaṃskārāḥ). All defiled things are suffering (duḥkhāh sarvasāsravāḥ). All things are without self (anātmanāḥ sarvadharmāḥ). Nirvāṇa is peace (śāntaṃ nirvāṇaṃ). Also called “the four insignia of the Dharma.”

g.96

Four foci of mindfulness

dran pa nye bar gzhag pa

དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ།

smṛtyupasṭhāna

These are the stationing, or focusing, of mindfulness on the body, sensations, the mind, and things. These four form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

g.97

Four immeasurables

tshad med bzhi

ཚད་མེད་བཞི།

catvāryapramāṇāni

Immeasurable states, otherwise known as “pure abodes” (brahmāvihāra). Immeasurable love arises from the wish for all living beings to have happiness and the cause of happiness. Immeasurable compassion arises from the wish for all living beings to be free from suffering and its cause. Immeasurable joy arises from the wish that living beings not be sundered from the supreme happiness of liberation. And immeasurable impartiality arises from the wish that the preceding—love, compassion, and joy—should apply equally to all living beings, without attachment to friend or hatred for enemy.

g.98

Four misapprehensions

phyin ci log bzhi

ཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོག་བཞི།

viparyāsa

These consist of mistaking what is impermanent for permanent; mistaking what is without self for self-possessing; mistaking what is impure for pure; and mistaking what is miserable for happy.

g.99

Four reliances

rton pa bzhi

རྟོན་པ་བཞི།

pratiśārana

To attain higher realizations and final enlightenment, the bodhisattva should rely on the meaning (of the teaching) and not on the expression (arthapratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na vyañjanapratisāraṇena); on the teaching and not on the person (who teaches it) (dharmapratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na pudgalapratisāraṇena); on gnosis and not on normal consciousness (jñānapratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na vijñānapratisāraṇena); and on discourses of definitive meaning and not on discourses of interpretable meaning (nītārthasūtrapratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na neyārthasūtrapratisāraṇena) according to the order in this sūtra. The usual order, “teaching-reliance,” “meaning-reliance,” definitive-meaning-discourse-reliance,” and “gnosis-reliance,” seems to conform better to stages of practice.

g.100

Four right efforts

yang dag par spong ba bzhi

ཡང་དག་པར་སྤོང་བ་བཞི།

samyakprahāṇa
samyakpradhāna

These are effort not to initiate sins not yet arisen; effort to eliminate sins already arisen; effort to initiate virtues not yet arisen; and effort to consolidate, increase, and not deteriorate virtues already arisen. For our use of “effort” (samyakpradhāna) instead of lit. “abandonment” (samyakprahāna) see Dayal, p. 102 ff. These four form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

g.101

Gaganagañja

nam mkha’i mdzod

ནམ་མཁའི་མཛོད།

Gaganagañja

g.102

Gajagandhahastin

spos kyi ba glang glang po che

སྤོས་ཀྱི་བ་གླང་གླང་པོ་ཆེ།

Gajagandhahastin

g.103

Gandhahastin

spos kyi glang po che

སྤོས་ཀྱི་གླང་པོ་ཆེ།

Gandhahastin

g.104

Gandhamādana

spos kyi ngad ldan

སྤོས་ཀྱི་ངད་ལྡན།

Gandhamādana

A mountain known for its incense trees.

g.105

Gandharva

dri za

དྲི་ཟ།

gandharva

Lit. “scent-eater.” A heavenly musician.

g.106

Gandhavyūhāhāra

spos bkod pa’i zas

སྤོས་བཀོད་པའི་ཟས།

Gandhavyūhāhāra

Deities who attend on the Buddha Sugandhakūta in the universe Sarvagandhasugandhā.

g.107

Gandhottamakūṭa

spos mchog brtsegs pa

སྤོས་མཆོག་བརྩེགས་པ།

Gandhottamakūṭa

Buddha of the universe Sarvagandhasugandhā, from whom Vimalakīrti’s emanation-bodhisattva obtains the vessel of ambrosial food that magically feeds the entire assembly without diminishing in the slightest.

g.108

Garuḍa

nam mkha’ lding

ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།

garuḍa

Magical bird, which protects from snakes.

g.109

Gnosis

ye shes

ཡེ་ཤེས།

jñāna

This is knowledge of the nonconceptual and transcendental which is realized by those attaining higher stages.

g.110

Grace

byin gyis brlabs

བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས།

adhiṣṭḥāna

The “supernatural power” with which the buddhas sustain the bodhisattvas in their great efforts on behalf of living beings.

g.111

Great compassion

snying rje chen po

སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahākaruṇā

This refers to one of the two central qualities of buddhas or high bodhisattvas: their feeling born of the wish for all living beings to be free of suffering and to attain the supreme happiness. It is important to note that this great compassion has nothing to do with any sentimental emotion such as that stimulated by such a reflection as “Oh, the poor creatures! How they are suffering!” On the contrary, great compassion is accompanied by the clear awareness that ultimately there are no such things as living beings, suffering, etc., in reality. Thus it is a sensitivity that does not entertain any dualistic notion of subject and object; indeed, such an unlimited sensitivity might best be termed “empathy.”

g.112

Great love

byams pa chen po

བྱམས་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahāmaitrī

In an effort to maintain distinctions between Buddhism and Christianity, translators have used all sorts of euphemisms for this basic term. Granted, it is not the everyday “love” that means “to like”; it is still the altruistic love that is the finest inspiration of Christ’s teaching, as well as of the Mahāyāna.

g.113

Great spiritual hero

sems dpa’ chen po

སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahāsattva

This translation follows the Tib. (lit. “great mind- hero”), whose translation from Skt. derives from the lo tsā ba’s analysis of sattva as meaning “hero,” rather than simply “being.”

g.114

High resolve

lhag pa’i bsam pa

ལྷག་པའི་བསམ་པ།

adhyāśaya

This is a stage in the conception or initiation of the spirit‌ of enlightenment‌. It follows upon the positive thought, or aspiration to attain it, wherein the bodhisattva becomes filled with a lofty determination that he himself should attain enlightenment, that it is the only thing to do to solve his own problems as well as those of all living beings. This high resolve reaches its most intense purity when the bodhisattva simultaneously attains the Path of Insight and the first bodhisattva-stage, the Stage of Joy. The translation follows Lamotte’s happy coinage “haute résolution.”

g.115

Highest deities

gzhan ’phrul dbang byed kyi lha

གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ལྷ།

paranīrmitavaśavartin

The deities of this, the sixth level of the gods of the desire-realm, appropriate and enjoy the magical creations of others; hence their name, literally, “who assume control of the emanations of others.” Their abode contains all the wonders created elsewhere and is referred to as a standard of splendor.

g.116

Himavat

gangs ri

གངས་རི།

Himavat

A mountain.

g.117

Identity

rang bzhin

རང་བཞིན།

svabhāva

Svabhāva is usually rendered as “self-nature,” sometimes as “own-being,” both of which have a certain literal validity. However, neither artificial term has any evocative power for the reader who has no familiarity with the original, and a term must be found that the reader can immediately relate to his own world to fulfill the function the original word had in its world. In our world of identities (national, racial, religious, personal, sexual, etc.), “identity” is a part of our makeup; thus, when we are taught the ultimate absence of identity of all persons and things, it is easy to “identify” what is supposedly absent and hence to try to understand what that entails.

g.118

Immaterial realm

gzugs med khams

གཟུགས་མེད་ཁམས།

ārūpyadhātu

g.119

Incantation

gzungs

གཟུངས།

dhāraṇī

The incantations, or spells, are mnemonic formulas, possessed by advanced bodhisattvas, that contain a quintessence of their attainments, not simply magical charms—although the latter are included. The same term in Sanskrit and Tibetan also refers to a highly developed power present in bodhisattvas that is a process of memory and recall of detailed teachings, best translated “retention” in certain contexts.

g.120

Incarnation

sprul pa

སྤྲུལ་པ།

nirmāṇa

See “emanated incarnation.”

g.121

Incarnation-body

sprul pa’i sku

སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ།

nirmāṇakāya

See “emanated incarnation.”

g.122

Incomprehensibility

mi dmigs pa

མི་དམིགས་པ།

anupalambha

This refers to the ultimate nature of things, which cannot be comprehended, grasped, etc., by the ordinary, conditioned, subjective mind. Hence it is significant that the realization of this nature is not couched in terms of understanding, or conviction, but in terms of tolerance (kṣānti), as the grasping mind cannot grasp its ultimate inability to grasp; it can only cultivate its tolerance of that inability.

g.123

Inconceivability

bsam gyis mi khyab pa

བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།

acintyatā

Lit. “unthinkability,” (on the part of a mind whose thinking is conditioned and bound by conceptual terms). This is essentially synonymous with “incomprehensibility” (see entry).

g.124

Inconceivable liberation

rnam par thar pa bsam gyis mi khyab pa

རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།

acintyavimokṣa

Inconceivable liberation of the bodhisattvas, a name of the Avataṃsaka, and a subtitle of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa.

g.125

Individual Vehicle

theg pa dman pa

ཐེག་པ་དམན་པ།

hīnayāna

See “Disciple Vehicle.”

g.126

Indra

brgya byin

བརྒྱ་བྱིན།

Indra

A major god in the Vedic pantheon, he dwindled in importance after Vedism was transformed into Hinduism in the early A.D. centuries. However, he was reinstated in Buddhist sūtras as the king of the gods and as a disciple of the Buddha and protector of the Dharma and its practicers.

g.127

Indrajāla

mig ’phrul can

མིག་འཕྲུལ་ཅན།

Indrajāla

g.128

Instinct

bag chags

བག་ཆགས།

vāsanā

The subconscious tendencies and predilections of the psychosomatic conglomerate. This most obvious word is seldom used in this context because of the hesitancy of scholars to employ “scientific” terminology.

g.129

Intellect

’du shes

འདུ་ཤེས།

samjñā

See “aggregate.”

g.130

Interpretable meaning

drang don

དྲང་དོན།

neyārtha

See “definitive meaning.”

g.131

Irreversible wheel of the Dharma

phyir mi ldog pa’i chos kyi ’khor lo

ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།

avaivartikadharmacakra

The fact that the Dharma is not a single dogma, law, or fixed system, but instead an adaptable body of techniques available for any living being to aid in his development and liberation is emphasized by this metaphor. This wheel is said to turn by the current of energy from the needs and wishes of living beings, and its turning automatically converts negative energies (e.g., desire, hatred, and ignorance) to positive ones (e.g., detachment, love, and wisdom).

g.132

Jagatindhara

’gro ba ’dzin

འགྲོ་བ་འཛིན།

Jagatindhara

A bodhisattva layman of Vaiśālī, who is saved by Vimalakīrti from being fooled by Māra posing as Indra. This bodhisattva is mentioned in Mvy, No. 728, and in the Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛccha (Toh 62, in the Ratnakūṭa; see Lamotte, p. 204, n. 120).

g.133

Jālinīprabha

dra ba can gyi ’od

དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་འོད།

Jālinīprabha

g.134

Jambudvīpa

’dzam bu gling

འཛམ་བུ་གླིང་།

Jambudvīpa

The “Rose-apple continent,” a name for the human world in the ancient Indian cosmology, it can be translated perhaps as “this earth,” or even as “India.”

g.135

Kakuda Kātyāyana

kA tya’i bu nog can

ཀཱ་ཏྱའི་བུ་ནོག་ཅན།

Kakuda Kātyāyana

One of the six outsider teachers.

g.136

Kālaparvata

ri nag po

རི་ནག་པོ།

Kālaparvata

A mountain.

g.137

Karma

ལས།

karma

Generally meaning “work,” or “action,” it is an important concept in Buddhist philosophy as the cumulative force of previous actions, which determines present experience and will determine future existences.

g.138

Kātyāyana

ka tya’i bu

ཀ་ཏྱའི་བུ།

Kātyāyana

(also Mahākātyāyana). Disciple of the Buddha noted for his skill in analysis of the Buddha’s discourses and, traditionally, the founder of the Abhidharma. See also n.74.

g.139

Kauśika

kau shi ka

ཀཽ་ཤི་ཀ

Kauśika

Another name for Indra. Kauśika, Śakra, and Indra all refer to the same god, centrally prominent in the Vedas, who in Buddhist cosmogony is regarded as the king of gods in the realm of desire.

g.140

Kiṃnara

mi’am ci

མིའམ་ཅི།

kiṃnara

A mythical being with a horse’s head and human body.

g.141

Knowledge and vision of liberation

rnam par grol ba’i ye shes mthong ba

རྣམ་པར་གྲོལ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་མཐོང་བ།

vimuktijñānadarśana

g.142

Krakucchanda

’khor ba ’jig
log par dad sel

འཁོར་བ་འཇིག
ལོག་པར་དད་སེལ།

Krakucchanda

The first Buddha of the “Good Eon” (bhadrakalpa) of one thousand buddhas, our own Śākyamuni having been the fourth, and Maitreya expected to come as the fifth. Also spelled Krakutsanda, Kukutsunda, Kukucchanda.

g.143

Kṣetralaṃkṛta

zhing snyoms brgyan

ཞིང་སྙོམས་བརྒྱན།

Kṣetralaṃkṛta

g.144

Kumārajīva

Kumārajīva

Translator of this sūtra into Chinese (344-409).

g.145

Lakṣaṇakūṭasamatikrānta

mtshan brtsegs yang dag ’das

མཚན་བརྩེགས་ཡང་དག་འདས།

Lakṣaṇakūṭasamatikrānta

g.146

Layman

dge bsnyen

དགེ་བསྙེན།

upāsaka

Householders with definite vows that set them off from the ordinary householder.

g.147

Laywoman

dge bsnyen ma

དགེ་བསྙེན་མ།

upāsikā

Householders with definite vows that set them off from the ordinary householder.

g.148

Liberation

mya ngan las ’das pa
rnam par grol ba
rnam par thar pa

མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
རྣམ་པར་གྲོལ་བ།
རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ།

nirvāṇa
vimukti
vimokṣa

g.149

Liberative art

thabs

ཐབས།

upāya

This is the expression in action of the great compassion of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas—physical, verbal, and mental. It follows that one empathetically aware of the troubles of living beings would, for his very survival, devise the most potent and efficacious techniques possible to remove those troubles, and the troubles of living beings are removed effectively only when they reach liberation. “Art” was chosen over the usual “method” and “means” because it has a stronger connotation of efficacy in our technological world; also, in Buddhism, liberative art is identified with the extreme of power, energy, and efficacy, as symbolized in the vajra (adamantine scepter): The importance of this term is highlighted in this sūtra by the fact that Vimalakīrti himself is introduced in the chapter entitled “Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art”; this indicates that he, as a function of the nirmāṇakāya (incarnation-body), just like the Buddha himself, is the very incarnation of liberative art, and every act of his life is therefore a technique for the development and liberation of living beings. The “liberative” part of the translation follows “salvifique” in Lamotte’s phrase “moyens salvifique.”

g.150

Licchavi

lid tsa bI

ལིད་ཙ་བཱི།

Licchavi

Name of the tribe and republican city-state whose capital was Vaiśālī, where Vimalakīrti lived, and the main events of this sūtra take place.

g.151

Life

’khor ba

འཁོར་བ།

saṃsāra

g.152

Lokapāla

’jig rten skyong

འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་།

Lokapāla

Lit. “World-Protectors.” They are the same as the four Mahārājas, the great kings of the quarters (rgyal chen bzhi), namely, Vaiśravaṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, and Virūpākṣa, whose mission is to report on the activities of mankind to the gods of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven and who have pledged to protect the practitioners of the Dharma. Each universe has its own set of four.

g.153

Lord

bcom ldan ’das

བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།

Bhagavān

“Lord” is chosen to translate the title Bhagavān because it is the term of greatest respect current in our “sacred” language, as established for the Deity in the Elizabethan version of the Bible. Indeed, the Skt. Bhagavān was given as a title to the Buddha, although it also served the non-Buddhist Indians of the day and, subsequently, it served as an honorific title of their particular deities. As the Buddha is clearly described in the sūtras as the “Supreme Teacher of Gods and Men,” there seems little danger that he may be confused with any particular deity through the use of this term [as indeed in Buddhist sūtras various deities, creators, protectors, etc., are shown in their respective roles]. Thus I feel it would compromise the weight and function of the original Bhagavān to use any less weighty term than “Lord” for the Buddha.

g.154

Madhyamaka

dbus ma

དབུས་མ།

Madhyamaka

Teaching of the Middle Way.

g.155

Mādhyamika

dbus ma pa

དབུས་མ་པ།

Mādhyamika

School based on Madhyamaka, and followers of that school.

g.156

Madhyāntavibhāga

dbus mtha’ rnam ’byed

དབུས་མཐའ་རྣམ་འབྱེད།

Madhyāntavibhāga

The “Analysis of the Middle and the Extremes,” it is an important work of Vijñānavāda philosophy, said to have been received as a revelation from the future Buddha Maitreya by the great scholar and saint, Āryāsaṅga, after twelve years of meditation.

g.157

Mahācakravāḍa

khor yug chen po

ཁོར་ཡུག་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahācakravāḍa

A mountain, or sometimes a range of mountains.

g.158

Mahākāśyapa

’od srung chen po

འོད་སྲུང་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahākāśyapa

Foremost disciple of the Buddha; he inherited the leadership of the saṅgha after the Parinirvāṇa. See also n.62.

g.159

Mahākātyāyana

ka tya’i bu chen po

ཀ་ཏྱའི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahākātyāyana

(also Kātyāyana). Disciple of the Buddha noted for his skill in analysis of the Buddha’s discourses and, traditionally, the founder of the Abhidharma.

g.160

Mahāmaudgalyāyana

maud gal gyi bu chen po

མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāmaudgalyāyana

One of the chief śrāvakas, paired with Śāriputra.

g.161

Mahāmucilinda

ri btang zung chen po

རི་བཏང་ཟུང་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāmucilinda

A mountain.

g.162

Mahāsiddha

grub thob chen po

གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahāsiddha

A “Great Sorcerer,” a master of the esoteric teachings and practices of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

g.163

Mahāsthāmaprāpta

mthu chen thob

མཐུ་ཆེན་ཐོབ།

Mahāsthāmaprāpta

g.164

Mahāvyūha

bkod pa chen po

བཀོད་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāvyūha

The name of one of the bodhisattvas in the assembly in Chap. 1.

g.165

Mahāvyūha

cher bkod pa

ཆེར་བཀོད་པ།

Mahāvyūha

The name of the universe in the distant past where the Buddha Bhaiṣajyarāja presided, and taught the prince Chandracchattra about the Dharma-worship (in the Epilogue).

g.166

Mahāyāna

theg pa chen po

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāyāna

The “Great Vehicle” of Buddhism, called “great” because it carries all living beings to enlightenment of Buddhahood. It is distinguished from the Hinayāna, including the Śrāvākayāna (Śrāvaka Vehicle) and Pratyekabuddhayāna (Solitary Sage Vehicle), which only carries each person who rides on it to their own personal liberation.

g.167

Mahoraga

lto ’phye chen po

ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahoraga

A mythical serpent race.

g.168

Maitreya

byams pa

བྱམས་པ།

Maitreya

A bodhisattva present throughout the sūtra, prophesied as one birth away from buddhahood and designated by Śākyamuni as the next buddha in the succession of one thousand buddhas of our era. According to tradition, he resides in the Tuṣita heaven preparing for his descent to earth at the appropriate time which, according to Buddhist belief, will occur in 4456 A.D.

g.169

Maṇḍala

dkyil ’khor

དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།

maṇḍala

A mystic diagram, usually consisting of a square within a circle, used to define a sacred space in the context of esoteric rituals of initiation and consecration preliminary to certain advanced meditational practices.

g.170

Maṇicūḍa

gtsug na nor bu

གཙུག་ན་ནོར་བུ།

Maṇicūḍa

g.171

Maṇiratnacchattra

nor bu rin chen gdugs

ནོར་བུ་རིན་ཆེན་གདུགས།

Maṇiratnacchattra

g.172

Mañjuśrī

’jam dpal
’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa

འཇམ་དཔལ།
འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།

Mañjuśrī
Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta

The eternally youthful crown prince (kumārabhūta), so called because of his special identification with the Prajñāpāramitā, or Transcendence of Wisdom. He is the only member of the Buddha’s retinue who volunteers to visit Vimalakīrti, and he serves as Vimalakīrti’s principal interlocutor throughout the sūtra. Traditionally regarded as the wisest of bodhisattvas, in Tibetan tradition he is known as rgyal ba’i yab gcig, the “sole father of buddhas,” as he inspires them in their realization of the profound. He is represented as bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. He is always youthful in appearance, like a boy of sixteen.

g.173

Māra

bdud

བདུད།

Māra

The devil, or evil one, who leads the forces of the gods of the desire-world in seeking to tempt and seduce the Buddha and his disciples. But according to Vimalakīrti he is actually a bodhisattva who dwells in the inconceivable liberation and displays evil activities in order to strengthen and consolidate the high resolve of all bodhisattvas.

g.174

Mārajit

bdud las rgyal

བདུད་ལས་རྒྱལ།

Mārajit

g.175

Mārapramardin

bdud ’joms

བདུད་འཇོམས།

Mārapramardin

g.176

Marīci

smig rgyu

སྨིག་རྒྱུ།

Marīci

Universe of the Buddha Duṣprasāhā.

g.177

Māskārin Gośāliputra

kun tu rgyu gnag lhas kyi bu

ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱུ་གནག་ལྷས་ཀྱི་བུ།

Māskārin Gośāliputra

One of the six outsider teachers.

g.178

Materialism

ril por ’dzin pa

རིལ་པོར་འཛིན་པ།

piṇdagrāha

The sense, which ordinarily binds us, of the “objective” solidity and physical reality of things.

g.179

Materiality

’jig tshogs

འཇིག་ཚོགས།

satkāya

Object of egoistic or materialist interest (satkāyadṛṣṭi). See “egoistic views.”

g.180

Matter

gzugs

གཟུགས།

rūpa

See “aggregate.”

g.181

Maudgalyāyana

maud gal gyi bu

མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ།

Maudgalyāyana

One of the chief śrāvakas, paired with Śāriputra. See also n.57.

g.182

Means of unification

bsdu ba’i dngos po

བསྡུ་བའི་དངོས་པོ།

saṃgrahavastu

Four ways in which a bodhisattva forms a group of people united by the common aim of practicing the Dharma: giving (dāna); pleasant speech (priyavaditā); accomplishment of the aims (of others) by teaching Dharma (arthacaryā); and consistency of behavior with the teaching (samānārthatā).

g.183

Meditation

See “absorption.”

g.184

Mental construction

kun tu rtog pa

ཀུན་ཏུ་རྟོག་པ།

kalpanā
vikalpa

See “conceptualization.”

g.185

Mental quiescence

zhi gnas

ཞི་གནས།

śamatha

“Mental quiescence” is a general term for all types of mind-practice, meditation, contemplation, concentration, etc., that cultivate one-pointedness of mind and lead to a state of peacefulness and freedom from concern with any sort of object. It is paired with “transcendental analysis” or “insight,” which combines the analytic faculty with this one-pointedness to reach high realizations such as the absence of self (see “transcendental analysis”). “Mental quiescence” and “transcendental analysis” were coined by E. Obermiller in his invaluable study “Prajṅa Pāramitā Doctrine, as Exposed in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra of Maitreya” (Acta Orientalia, Vol. XI [Heidelberg, 1932], pp. 1-134).

g.186

Merudhvaja

lhun po’i rgyal mtshan

ལྷུན་པོའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན།

Merudhvaja

Buddhafield beyond buddhafields as numerous as the sands of thirty-six Ganges rivers, administered by the Buddha Merupradīparāja, whence Vimalakīrti obtains the lion-thrones on which he seats his visitors.

g.187

Merupradīparāja

lhun po’i sgron ma’i rgyal po

ལྷུན་པོའི་སྒྲོན་མའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Merupradīparāja

Buddha of the universe Merudhvaja.

g.188

Morality

tshul khrims

ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།

śīla

g.189

Motivation

’du byed

འདུ་བྱེད།

saṃskāra

See “aggregate.”

g.190

Mucilinda

ri btang bzung

རི་བཏང་བཟུང་།

Mucilinda

A mountain.

g.191

Nāga

ཀླུ།

nāga

One of the lords of the ocean, appearing as a great, many headed, sea dragon.

g.192

Nāgārjuna

klu sgrub

ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ།

Nāgārjuna

Saint, scholar, and mystic of Buddhist India from about four hundred years after the Buddha; discoverer of the Mahāyāna sūtras and author of the fundamental Madhyamaka treatise.

g.193

Nārāyaṇa

sred med kyi bu

སྲེད་མེད་ཀྱི་བུ།

Nārāyaṇa

In Indian lore, incarnation of Viṣṇu, whose strength was legendary (see Abhidharmakośa VII, pp. 72-74).

དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ།

The Teaching of Vimalakīrti

Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa

འཕགས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”

Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra

Toh 176

Summary

Acknowledgments

Colophon

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan and Sanskrit sources

Translations of this text

Canonical references

Editions and translations of works referenced

Glossary

Abhidharma

7 passages contain this term

Abhi­dharma­kośa

4 passages contain this term

Abhirati

10 passages contain this term

Absence of self

4 passages contain this term

Absorption

9 passages contain this term

Affliction

23 passages contain this term

Aggregate

18 passages contain this term

Aids to enlightenment

6 passages contain this term

Ajita Keśakambala

2 passages contain this term

Akaniṣṭha

1 passage contains this term

Akṣayamati

1 passage contains this term

Akṣobhya

13 passages contain this term

Amitābha

3 passages contain this term

Āmrapālī

5 passages contain this term

Ānanda

25 passages contain this term

Ananta­guṇa­ratna­vyūha

2 passages contain this term

Anārambaṇa­dhyāyin

1 passage contains this term

Anikṣiptadhura

1 passage contains this term

Aniruddha

4 passages contain this term

Arhat

18 passages contain this term

Āryadeva

1 passage contains this term

Āryāsaṅga

6 passages contain this term

Aśoka

3 passages contain this term

Asura

10 passages contain this term

Auspicious signs and marks

8 passages contain this term

Avalokiteśvara

1 passage contains this term

Avataṃsaka

4 passages contain this term

Bad migrations

4 passages contain this term

Basic precepts

1 passage contains this term

Bhaiṣajyarāja

12 passages contain this term

Bhāvaviveka

Vimalakīrtinirdeśa

Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra

Abhidharmakośa

Anantaguṇaratnavyūha

Anārambaṇadhyāyin