About 7 years ago, when I was having some personal issues, I wrote to one Zen teacher expressing my situation. He came back with an advice to study the Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra, in particular Chapter 7. And he attached that particulater chapter for my reading. He said I should take my time to read and contemplate each part, section by section slowly. I did that but I knew I did not quite fully understand it. Of course, I could understand literarily what it says. But often, the inner meaning is not comprehended. Since that time, I had it at the back of my mind.... like a secret koan or kung-an. In recent days, it broke through. I had a major revelation as far as this Sutra is concerned, and more generally Mahayana Buddhism. In this post, my intention is to share with you an extract of that Chapter 7. But due to its length, I shall only share with you parts 1 to 3 of that Chapter. Try to search yourself for the other 6 parts. here are altogether 9 parts. Or, perhaps I can post the other parts later. I also understood how Vimalakirti is "connected" to Theravada Buddhism.
#vimalakirtinirdesasutra #mahayana #Zen
Here's another post you may like : https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-year-in-review.html
From this post in 2014, it certainly confirms my link to "Vimalakirti" goes back even longer in time.
Here it is:-
Chapter 7: Observing Living Beings
I.
Thereupon, Manjusri, the crown prince,
addressed the Licchavi Vimalakirti: "Good sir, how should a bodhisattva
regard all living beings?"
Vimalakirti replied, "Manjusri, a
bodhisattva should regard all livings 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; 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 a saint; like thoughts of avarice,
immorality, wickedness, and hostility in a bodhisattva who has attained
tolerance; like the instincts of passions in a Tathagata; 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 passions of an emanated incarnation of the Tathagata; like
dream-visions seen after waking; like the passions of one who is free of
conceptualizations; like fire burning without fuel; like the reincarnation of
one who has attained ultimate liberation.
"Precisely thus, Manjusri, does a
bodhisattva who realizes the ultimate selflessness consider all beings."
II.
Manjusri then asked further, "Noble
sir, if a bodhisattva considers all living beings in such a way, how does he
generate the great love toward them?"
Vimalakirti replied, "Manjusri, when a
bodhisattva considers all living beings in this way, he thinks: 'Just as I have
realized the Dharma, so should I teach it to living beings.' Thereby, he
generates the love that is truly a refuge for all living beings; the love that
is peaceful because free of grasping; the love that is not feverish, because
free of passions; the love that accords with reality because it is equanimous
in all three times; the love that is without conflict because free of the
violence of the passions; the love that is nondual because it is involved
neither with the external nor with the internal; the love that is imperturbable
because totally ultimate.
"Thereby he generates the love that is
firm, its high resolve unbreakable, like a diamond; the love that is pure,
purified in its intrinsic nature; the love that is even, its aspirations being
equal; the saint's love that has eliminated its enemy; the bodhisattva's love
that continuously develops living beings; The Tathagata's love that understands
reality; the Buddha's love that causes living beings to awaken from their
sleep; the love that is spontaneous because it is fully enlightened spontaneously;
the love that is enlightenment because it is unity of experience; the love that
has no presumption because it has eliminated attachment and aversion; the love
that is great compassion because it infuses the Mahayana with radiance; the
love that is never exhausted because it acknowledges voidness and selflessness;
the love that is giving because it bestows the gift of Dharma free of the tight
fist of a bad teacher; the love that is morality because it improves immoral
living beings; the love that is tolerance because it protects both self and
others; the love that is effort because it takes responsibility for all living
beings; the love that is contemplation because it refrains from indulgence in
tastes; the love that is wisdom because it causes attainment at the proper
time; the love that is liberative technique because it shows the way
everywhere; the love that is without formality because it is pure in
motivation; the love that is without deviation because it acts from decisive
motivation; the love that is high resolve because it is without passions; the
love that is without deceit because it is not artificial; the love that is
happiness because it introduces living beings to the happiness of the Buddha.
Such, Manjusri, is the great love of a bodhisattva."
III.
Manjusri: What is the great compassion of a
bodhisattva?
Vimalakirti: It is the giving of all
accumulated roots of virtue to all living beings.
Manjusri: What is the great joy of the
bodhisattva?
Vimalakirti: It is to be joyful and without
regret in giving.
Manjusri: What is the equanimity of the
bodhisattva?
Vimalakirti: It is what benefits both self
and others.
Manjusri: To what should one resort when
terrified by fear of life?
Vimalakirti: Manjusri, a bodhisattva who is
terrified by fear of life should resort to the magnanimity of the Buddha.
Manjusri: Where should he who wishes to
resort to the magnanimity of the Buddha take his stand?
Vimalakirti: He should stand in equanimity
toward all living beings.
Manjusri: Where should he who wishes to
stand in equanimity toward all living beings take his stand?
Vimalakirti: He should live for the
liberation of all living beings.
Manjusri: What should he who wishes to
liberate all living beings do?
Vimalakirti: He should liberate them from
their passions.
Manjusri: How should he who wishes to
eliminate passions apply himself?
Vimalakirti: He should apply himself
appropriately.
Manjusri: How should he apply himself, to
"apply himself appropriately"?
Vimalakirti: He should apply himself to
productionlessness and to destructionlessness.
Manjusri: What is not produced? And what is
not destroyed?
Vimalakirti: Evil is not produced and good
is not destroyed.
Manjusri: What is the root of good and
evil?
Vimalakirti: Materiality is the root of
good and evil.
Manjusri: What is the root of materiality?
Vimalakirti: Desire is the root of
materiality.
Manjusri: What is the root of desire and
attachment?
Vimalakirti: Unreal construction is the
root of desire.
Manjusri: What is the root of unreal
construction?
Vimalakirti: The false concept is its root.
Manjusri: What is the root of the false
concept?
Vimalakirti: Baselessness.
Manjusri: What it the root of baselessness?
Vimalakirti: Manjusri, when something is
baseless, how can it have any root? Therefore, all things stand on the root
which is baseless.
- end of Part 3.
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