The Vimalakirti nirdesa sutra: (Wei mo chieh so shuo ching) (The Clear light series)

Rating:
Summary: "a rainbow-beam of diamond light"
Review: Although I know nothing about this edition or translation I'm writing this review to turn dharma-interested people on to this remarkable sutra. I've read the translation by Robert A. F. Thurman in an Indian edition and was blown away. For me it is the most eloquent and enjoyable expression of wisdom I've ever encountered. Anyone who has some basic background understanding in Buddhism might have a similar experience... try it.

Rating:
Summary: Right on! Leave your baggage at the door!
Review: This is a very inspiring sutra - especially relevant for Western Buddhists, given the fact that many - if not most of us, have to make sense of the Dharma as lay-folk. Certain Buddhist schools (chiefly in S.E.Asia) tend to emphasize the monastic approach to Buddhism - but,there is a more comprehen- sive picture. The Vimalakirti Sutra teaches us how to cultivate a 'non-abiding mind' - which is to say, a clear, open state of consciousness, no longer obstructed by distinctions such as 'worldly' and 'saintly' realms. It is not 'things' which hinder us - but our reaction to 'things' - conditioned rela- tivities. With wisdom and humour - layman Vimalakirti - the chief interlocuter in this sutra, brings out the spirit of this teaching. The inspiring thing, is that - as a layman, he encounters various bodhisattvas etc. - meeting them on their own ground, on the strength of the non-dual wisdom aroused by his own practice. He teaches us to take up our spiritual 'home' in the unconditioned - even as we go through day-to-day life, which is to say, using the 'conditioned' - to discover the un-conditioned. Hence, all the 'defilements' (klesa) and things which might otherwise bother us - become the 'material' we use to discover the unconditioned .@. .for that is what they are - RIGHT NOW. The notion that KLESA IS BODHI - that there is an intrinsic identity between 'defilement' and the 'enlightened' Mind - seems to bother some people. But there is nothing shallow about it. After all, if we do not awaken to the non-abiding Mind, we cannot see this sublime truth. As Vimalakirti says, when the Mind is 'pure'- the 'realm' we happen to appear in - is also pure. The teaching in this sutra also transcends prejudice over gender. Female bodhisattvas transform into men, then back into female form, blowing away the whole problem! - just as the distinction between 'sangha' and 'laity' ultimately dissolves in the unconditioned.

To put it in contemporary language - this sutra is 'mind blowing! It resonates well with Zen training - and it is not hard to see why it has been popular with Zen Buddhists. There are now several translations of this sutra in English. They are all worth looking at - but, Lu Kuan Yu's translation and notes are spot-on, for he understood the nuance of the text - as a Buddhist practitioner. Other versions may well be more fastidious over technicalities of one sort or another. Nobody in China or Far-east has felt bothered by the fact that there might be one or more translations of a given sutra.