Vimalakirti’s Open Heart Sutra

Written over 2,000 years ago the Vimalakirti Sutra is rare in how it joins the muddiness of human suffering and the lotus bloom of awakening into one. With a focus on non-duality, the Vimalakirti Sutra offers a profound understanding of what emptiness means in the Mahayana tradition.  With a great sense of humor and a taste for the fantastic, this sutra raises a delicate question for us today - what does it mean to live in a world where samsara and nirvana are one?  

Most revealing are the exchanges with the Buddha's disciples, bodhisattvas, gods and goddesses, who are summoned to visit Vimalakirt, a layperson, in his sickbed.  Many refuse, feeling corrected and exposed by Vimalakirti in earlier exchanges.  Manjushri is the direct one, bringing himself to Vimalakirti’s straightforward mind.  Like a great physician, Vimalakirti expounds from the sickbed. Through these insightful and often humorous discussions we can see ourselves, and are bodhisattvas training in compassion and skillfulness for the liberation for all beings as we do so.