Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra

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Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra (Skt. Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra; Tib. དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ་, Wyl. 'dri med grags pas bstan pa'i mdo) (Toh. 176) — a popular Mahayana sutra featuring the lay bodhisattva Vimalakirti.

Tibetan Text

The Sanskrit text was translated into Tibetan by the monk Chönyi Tsultrim (Wyl. chos-nyid tshul-khrims) at the beginning of the 9th century. It can be found in:

Content of the Tibetan Translation

The Tibetan edition is divided into 12 chapters:

  1. Purification of the Buddhafield
  2. Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art
  3. The Disciples’ and the Bodhisattvas’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakirti
  4. The Consolation of the Invalid
  5. The Inconceivable Liberation
  6. The Goddess
  7. The Family of the Tathagatas
  8. The Dharma-Door of Nonduality
  9. The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation
  10. Lesson of the Destructible and the Indestructible
  11. Vision of the Universe Abhirati and the Tathagata Akshobhya
  12. Antecedents and Transmission of the Holy Dharma

Modern Translations

In English

  • Sara Boin, The Teaching of Vimalakirti (London: Pali Text Society, 1976, reprinted 1994). English version of Étienne Lamotte's French translation (see below)
  • Robert Thurman, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture
  • Burton Watson, The Vimalakirti Sutra (Columbia University Press, 1996)

In French

  • Lamotte, Étienne, L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti, Louvain, 1962. Translated from Tibetan.
  • Carré, Patrick, Soûtra de la Liberté inconcevable : Les enseignements de Vimalakirti (Fayard, 2000). Translated from Chinese.

External Links