The Vimalakirti Sutra: A Bilingual Volume with Cross References between English and Chinese - Translated from the Chinese of Master Kumarajiva (English and Chinese Edition)

"A new translation of the Vimalakirti Sutra. Translated from the Chinese of Kumarajiva (Taisho Vol. XIV. No. 475) by the International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts (IITBT) at Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Also called Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, it dates from no later than the 3rd century CE, and most likely from the 1st or 2nd centuries CE. In the sutra the layman and householder Vimalakirti , who is also a model bodhisattva, instructs deities, learned Buddhist arhats, and lay people in all matters concerning the nature of enlightenment, emptiness (sunyata), and non-duality. Vimalakirti employs a subtle understanding of "skill in means" (upaya) to lead them the highest truth: the counter-intuitive claim that nirvana and samsara , at an ultimate level, are not different. The discourse culminates with a wordless teaching of silence"--