Scriptures & Texts
Vimalakirti Sutra
Buddhism
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A Mahayana Buddhist sutra centered on Vimalakirti, a wealthy lay householder whose wisdom and command of emptiness teaching surpass those of the Buddha's own monastic disciples and bodhisattvas who visit him as he lies feigning illness. Its central image, Vimalakirti's "thundering silence" when asked to define non-duality directly, after every other figure has offered a verbal answer, became a touchstone for East Asian Buddhist, especially Chan and Zen, teaching on the limits of language. The text was highly influential in China as a scriptural warrant for serious lay Buddhist practice outside the monastery.
Facts
Origins
Era of CompositionScholars generally date composition to around the second century CE in India; Kumarajiva completed the standard Chinese translation in 406 CE. 1 LanguageComposed in Sanskrit; the Sanskrit original was long lost and the text was known chiefly through Kumarajiva's early fifth century Chinese translation until a Sanskrit manuscript resurfaced at the Potala Palace in 1999. Structure
Structure14 chapters structured as a series of dialogues in which the layman Vimalakirti instructs bodhisattvas and disciples, culminating in his wordless response on the teaching of nonduality. 1 Status
Canonical Status Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Text
Literary Form Cross-Tradition Connections
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