The Vimalakīrti Sūtra

This compound is actually metaphorical in sense, with (at least) two interpretations possible because of ambiguities in the word dhātu. Dhātu as in the expression kāmadhātu (desire-realm), may mean “realm”; or it may mean “element,” as in the eighteen elements (see entry), where it is explained as analogous to a mineral such as copper. Thus the realm of the Dharma is the dharmakāyā, the pure source and sphere of the Dharma. And the element of the Dharma is like a mine from which the verbal Dharma, the buddha-qualities, and the wisdoms of the arhats and bodhisattvas are culled. This is metaphorical, as Vimalakīrti would remind us, because the Dharma, the ultimate, is ultimately not a particular place; it is immanent in all places, being the actuality and ultimate condition of all things and being relatively no one thing except, like voidness, the supremely beneficent of concepts.

Referring to actions, this term signifies the actions of beings in the subtle god-realms of form and formlessness that can only lead to rebirth in the same realm in the next life.

Disciple; originally the barber of the Śākya princes, ordained together with them, and noted as an expert on the Vinaya.

(See also n.80).

Great city during the Buddha’s time, capital of the Licchavi republic; at present the town of Basarh, Muzaffarpur district, in Tirhut, Bihar province of India. (See Lamotte, pp. 80-83; p. 97, n. 1.).

An important bodhisattva, “Wielder of the Thunderbolt,” whose compassion is to manifest in a terrific form to protect the practicers of the Dharma from harmful influences.

(Fourth century). The younger brother of Āryāsaṅga, he was one of the greatest scholars in Buddhist history, author of the Abhi­dharma­kośa, the most definitive work on the Abhidharma, and later of numerous important works on the Vijñānavāda philosophy.

Name of the ancient sacred Scriptures of Brahmanism, most famous of which is the Ṛg Veda.

The name of the long-past eon during which the Buddha Bhaiṣajyarāja presided in the buddhafield Mahāvyūha.

This means a mental conviction or opinion that conditions the mind and determines how it sees reality.

The school of “Consciousness-Only” founded by Maitreya and Āryāsaṅga, which shares with the Mādhyamika most of the philosophical techniques of the Mahāyāna, while differing on the interpretation of the profound meaning of voidness, or the ultimate reality.

The wealthy Licchavi layman, from the city of Vaiśālī, ranked as one of the great bodhisattvas. The main protagonist of this sūtra.

One of the three Piṭakas, or “Baskets,” of the Buddhist canon; the one dealing specifically with the code of the monastic disipline.

The voidness of voidness, an important concept that indicates the ultimate conceptuality of all terms, even those for the ultimate, to avoid the major error of absolutising the ultimate.

Lit. “collect,” i.e., gather together into the Mahāyāna.

Third of the Three Doors of Liberation (see glossary). Objectively, it is equivalent to voidness; subjectively, it is the outcome of the holy gnosis of voidness as the realization of the ultimate lack of anything to wish for, whether voidness itself, or even Buddhahood. See “emptiness.”

Seventh century Chinese scholar. One of the greatest translators in world history, he traveled to India, where he lived for many years, studying Sanskrit and all the sciences of the day. On his return to China he translated many volumes of important philosophical and religious works. He translated this sūtra in 650.

A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa.

Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.