Vimalakīrti debating Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Chinese painting from the Dunhuang Caves, Tang dynasty
Part of a series on
Mahāyāna Buddhism
Teachings
Bodhisattva
Buddhahood
Mind of Awakening
Buddha-nature
Skillful Means
Transcendent Wisdom
Transcendent Virtues
Emptiness
Two truths
Consciousness-only
Three bodies
Three vehicles
Non-abiding Nirvana
One Vehicle
Bodhisattva Precepts
Bodhisattva vow
Bodhisattva stages
Pure Lands
Luminous mind
Dharani
Three Turnings
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Shakyamuni
Amitabha
Adi-Buddha
Akshobhya
Prajñāpāramitā Devī
Bhaiṣajyaguru
Vairocana
Mañjuśrī
Avalokiteśvara
Vajrapāṇi
Vajrasattva
Maitreya
Kṣitigarbha
Ākāśagarbha
Samantabhadra
Tara
Wrathful deities
Mahayana sutras
Prajñāpāramitā sūtras
Lotus Sūtra
Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra
Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra
Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra
Vimalakirtinirdeśa
Pure Land Sutras
Lalitavistara Sūtra
Samādhirāja Sūtra
Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra
Tathāgatagarbha sūtras
Śrīmālādevī Sūtra
Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra
Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
Ghanavyūha sūtra
Golden Light Sutra
Tathāgataguhyaka Sūtra
Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra
Major schools
Mādhyamaka
Yogācāra
Tiantai
Tendai
Huayan
Zen
Shingon
Pure Land
Nichiren
Vajrayāna
Tibetan Buddhism
Dzogchen
Key figures
Nāgārjuna
Ashvaghosha
Āryadeva
Lokakṣema
Kumārajīva
Asanga
Vasubandhu
Sthiramati
Buddhapālita
Dignāga
Bhāvaviveka
Dharmakīrti
Candrakīrti
Zhiyi
Bodhidharma
Huineng
Shandao
Xuanzang
Fazang
Amoghavajra
Saichō
Kūkai
Shāntideva
Shāntarakshita
Wohnyo
Mazu Daoyi
Jinul
Dahui Zonggao
Hongzhi Zhengjue
Hōnen
Shinran
Dōgen
Nichiren
Śaṅkaranandana
Virūpa
Ratnākaraśānti
Abhayākaragupta
Nāropā
Atisha
Sakya Pandita
Dolpopa
Rangjung Dorje
Tsongkhapa
Longchenpa
Hakuin
Hanshan
Taixu
D. T. Suzuki
Sheng-yen
14th Dalai Lama
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Regional traditions
China
Han Chinese
Japan
Korea
Vietnam
Tibetan
Nepal
Newar
Bhutan
Mongolia
Malaysia
Indonesia
West
v
t
e
The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa (Devanagari: विमलकीर्तिनिर्देश) (sometimes referred to as the Vimalakīrti Sūtra or Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra) is a Buddhist text which centers on a lay Buddhist meditator who attained a very high degree of enlightenment considered by some second only to the Buddha's. It was extremely influential in East Asia, but most likely of considerably less importance in the Indian and Tibetan sub-traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism[according to whom?]. The word nirdeśa in the title means "instruction, advice", and Vimalakīrti is the name of the main protagonist of the text, and means "Taintless Fame".
The sutra teaches, among other subjects, the meaning of nondualism, the doctrine of the true body of the Buddha, the characteristically Mahāyāna claim that the appearances of the world are mere illusions, and the superiority of the Mahāyāna over other paths. It places in the mouth of the upāsaka (lay practitioner) Vimalakīrti a teaching addressed to both arhats and bodhisattvas, regarding the doctrine of śūnyatā. In most versions, the discourse of the text culminates with a wordless teaching of silence.[1] Translator Burton Watson argues that the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa was likely composed in approximately 100 CE.[2]
Although it had been thought lost for centuries, a version in Sanskrit was recovered in 1999 among the manuscripts of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.[3] The Sanskrit was published in parallel with the Tibetan and three Chinese versions by the Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature at the Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism at Taisho University in 2004,[4] and in 2006, the same group published a critical edition that has become the standard version of the Sanskrit for scholarly purposes.[5] In 2007 the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods published a romanized Sanskrit version under the title Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśo Nāma Mahāyānasūtram.[6]
For a recent and thorough summary of the present scholarly understanding of the text, readers should consult Felbur.[7]
^Felbur, Rafal (2015). "Vimalakīrtinirdeśa". Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism. 1: 275.
^Watson, Burton (1997). The Vimalakirti Sutra. Columbia University Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780231106566.
^Sidhartha's, Inent. "A Darshan in Vimalakirti Nirdesha". Sidhartha's Intent. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature at the Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism 大正大学綜合仏教研究所梵語佛典硏究会 (2004). Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: Transliterated Sanskrit Text Collated with Tibetan and Chinese Translations 梵蔵漢対照維摩経. Taisho University Press.
^Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature at the Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism 大正大学綜合仏教研究所梵語佛典硏究会 (2006). Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: A Sanskrit Edition Based upon the Manuscript Newly Found at the Potala Palace 梵文維摩経―ポタラ宮所蔵写本に基づく校訂. Taisho University Press.
^"Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśo Nāma Mahāyānasūtram". Samsara. Retrieved 15 April 2015. [dead link]
^Felbur, Rafal (2015). "Vimalakīrtinirdeśa". Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism. 1: 274–282.
The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa (Devanagari: विमलकीर्तिनिर्देश) (sometimes referred to as the VimalakīrtiSūtra or Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra) is a Buddhist text...
Vimalakīrti (Sanskrit: विमल vimala "stainless, undefiled" + कीर्ति kīrti "fame, glory, reputation") is the central figure in the VimalakirtiSutra, which...
has been influenced by sutras such as the Lankavatara Sutra, the VimalakirtiSutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra. Subsequently, the Zen tradition...
The Heart Sūtra is a popular sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya translates as "The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom"...
Pure Land sources. The sutra also contains a chapter in which Akṣobhya's buddha-field plays a key role. The VimalakīrtiSutra states that the purification...
Buddhism. Samādhirāja Sūtra (or Candrapradīpa Sūtra), influential in the Madhyamaka scholasticism of Tibet. VimalakīrtiSūtra – A sutra which depicts the...
co-founder and president of the Tibet House US New York. He translated the VimalakirtiSutra from the Tibetan Kanjur into English. He is the father of actress...
The Lotus Sūtra (Sanskrit: Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, Chinese: 妙法蓮華經) is one of the most influential and...
in Chinese Buddhism include: Lotus Sutra, Flower Ornament Sutra, VimalakirtīSutra, Nirvana Sutra, and Amitābha Sutra. Chinese Buddhism is the largest institutionalized...
influential sutras in Zen are the VimalakirtiSutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. Important apocryphal sutras composed...
Mahāyāna and its texts. This is partly based on some texts like the VimalakirtiSūtra, which praise lay figures at the expense of monastics. This theory...
zuòchán can be found in early Chinese Buddhist sources, such as the Dhyāna sutras. For example, the famous translator Kumārajīva (344–413) translated a work...
on 2021-03-18. Retrieved 2017-09-12. "The Sutra of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion's Roar and the VimalakīrtiSutra" (PDF). 2014-09-12. Archived from the original...
Mahāyāna sutras are the Prajñaparamita sutras such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Lotus Sutra, the Pure Land sutras, the VimalakirtiSutra, the...
Lotus Sūtra, Mañjuśrī also leads the Nagaraja's daughter to enlightenment. He also figures in the VimalakīrtiSūtra in a debate with Vimalakīrti where...
non-verbal and non-conceptual. This was associated with Vimalakirti's silence in the Vimalakirtisutra by Fazang. Chengguan also associated this with the "sudden...
While at Daisho-ji, he read the Lotus Sutra, considered by the Nichiren sect to be the king of all Buddhist sutras, and found it disappointing, saying "it...
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (Chinese: 六祖壇經; pinyin: Liùzǔ Tánjīng or simply: 壇經 Tánjīng) is a Chan Buddhist scripture that was composed...
Sutra, VimalakirtiSutra, the Golden Light, the King of Samadhis Sutra, and the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. In the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra...