One of the most popular Asian classics for roughly two thousand years, the Vimalakirti Sutra stands out among the sacred texts of Mahayana Buddhism for its conciseness, its vivid and humorous episodes, its dramatic narratives, and its eloquent exposition of the key doctrine of emptiness or nondualism. Unlike most sutras, its central figure is not a Buddha but a wealthy townsman, who, in his mastery of doctrine and religious practice, epitomizes the ideal lay believer. For this reason, the sutra has held particular significance for men and women of the laity in Buddhist countries of Asia, assuring them that they can reach levels of spiritual attainment fully comparable to those accessible to monks and nuns of the monastic order.
Vimalakirti Sutra, Translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press, Paperback, 1996, 192 pages, $24.00
Burton Watson is one of the worlds best-known translators from the Chinese and Japanese. His translations include The Lotus Sutra, Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, Rykan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan, Saigy: Poems of a Mountain Home, and The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century, all published by Columbia.
Translators Note
Introduction
The Vimalakirti Sutra
1 Buddha Lands
2 Expedient Means
3 The Disciples
4 The Bodhisattvas
5 Inquiring About the Illness
6 Beyond Comprehension
7 Regarding Living Beings
8 The Buddha Way
9 Entering the Gate of Nondualism
10 Fragrance Accumulated
11 Actions of the Bodhisattvas
12 Seeing Akshobhya Buddha
13 The Offering of the Law
14 Entrustment
Glossary
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