(3) Now using upaya he appeared ill and because of his indisposition kings, ministers, elders, upasakas, Brahmins, etc., as well as princes and other officials reaching many thousands came to enquire after his health. So Vimalakirti appeared in his sick body to receive and expound the Dharma to them, saying:

“Virtuous ones, the human body is impermanent; it is neither strong nor durable; it will decay and is, therefore, unreliable. It causes anxieties and sufferings, being subject to all kinds of ailments. Virtuous ones, all wise men do not rely on this body which is like a mass of foam, which is intangible. It is like a bubble and does not last for a long time. It is like a flame and is the product of the thirst of love. It is like a banana tree, the centre of which is hollow. It is like an illusion being produced by inverted thoughts. It is like a dream being formed by fasle views. It is like a shadow and is caused by karma. This body is like an echo for it results from causes and conditions. It is like a floating cloud, which disperses any moment. It is like lightning for it does not stay for the time of a thought. It is without owner for it is like the earth. It is egoless for it is like fire (that kills itself). It is transient like the wind. It is not human for it is like water. It is unreal and depends on the four elements for its existence. It is empty, being neither ego nor its object. It is without knowledge like grass, trees and potsherds. It is not the prime mover, but is moved by the wind (of passions). It is impure and full of filth. It is false, and though washed, bathed, clothed and fed, it will decay and die in the end. It is a calamity being subject to all kinds of illnesses and sufferings. It is like a dry well, for it is prusued by death. It is unsettled and will pass away. It is like a poisonous snake, a deadly enemy, a temporary assemblage (without underlying reality), being made of the five aggregates, the twelve entrances (the six organs and their objects) and the eighteen realms of sense (the six organs, their objects and their perceptions).

(23) 'That Self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own.'

(1) Now next, a Consideration of the Activities. — Prajapati created the active functions (karma). They,. when they had been created, strove with one another. * I am going the double meaning of a word, a procedure characteristic of the Upamshads. The word lokya may here be translated 'world-wise or * world-procuring/ When properly instructed, a son is ' world-wise ' in his own attainment of the world through knowledge. He is also * world-procuring ' for his father, in that he is able, through the discharge of appointed filial duties, to help the departed spirit of his father to attain a better world than would otherwise be possible. from the hell called Put, therefore he is called putra (son) [i.e. deliverer from hell],' to speak/ the voice began. ' I am going to see/ said the eye. 6 I am going to hear,' said the ear. So spake the other func- tions, each according to his function. Death, appearing as weariness, laid hold and took possession of them, and, taking possession of them, Death checked them. Therefore the voice becomes weary, the eye becomes weary, the ear becomes weary. But Death did not take possession of him who was the middle breath. They sought to know him. They said: ( Verily, he is the best of us, since whether moving or not moving, he is not perturbed, nor perishes. Come, let us all become a form of him.' Of him, indeed, they became a form. Therefore they are named ' vital breaths ' after him. In whatever family there is a man who has this knowledge, they call that family after him. Whoever strives with one who knows this, dries up and finally dies.— So much with reference to the self.

(3) That Self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own.

(5) The threefold offspring- of Prajapati — gods, men, and devils (asura)— dwelt with their father Prajapati as students of sacred knowledge (brahviacarya). Having lived the life of a student of sacred knowledge, the gods said: ' Speak to us, Sir/ To them then he spoke this syllable, 'Da.' £ Did you understand? ' ' We did understand/ said they. ' You said to us? ct Restrain yourselves (damyata)? ' ' Yes (Om)! ' said he. « You did understand/

(1) In the great town of Vaisai, there was an elder called Vimalakirti, who had made offerings to countless Buddhas and had deeply planted all good roots, thereby, achieving the patient endurance of the uncreate. His unhindered power of speech enabled him to roam everywhere using his supernatural powers to teach others. He had achieved absolute control over good and evil influences (dharani) thereby, realizing fearlessness. So he overcame all passions and demons, entered all profound Dharma-doors to enlightenment, excelled in Wisdom perfection (prajna-paramita) and was well versed in all expedient methods (upaya) of teaching, thereby, fulfilling all great Bodhisatva vows. He knew very well the mental propensities of living beings and could distinguish their various (spiritual) roots. For along time, he had trodden the Buddha-path and his mind was spotless. Since he understood Mahayana, all his actions were based on right thinking. While dwelling in the Buddha’s awe-inspiring majesty, his mind was extensive like the great ocean. He was praised by all Buddhas and revered by Indra, Brahma and worldly kings.

(7) Thereupon, Vimalakirti, without rising from his seat, used his transcendental power to create an illusory (bogus) Bodhisattva whose features were radiant and whose dignity was unsurpassable, overshadowing the whole assembly. He then said to this illusory Bodhisattva:

“Ascend to the Fragrant Land to call on its Buddha, saying what I now tell you:

‘Upasaka Vimalakirti bows his head at your feet to pay his reverence and inquires respectfully about your happy tidings; he hopes you are well and have no difficulties (in converting living beings) and that your vigor is full. He wishes to receive some leftovers from your meal to do the salvation work in the saha world for the purpose of converting to Mahayana those of the small vehicle and of spreading the renown of the Tathagata to make it known everywhere’.”

(7) Aniruddha:

The Buddha then said to Aniruddha:

“You call on Vimalakirti to inquire after his health on my behalf.”

Aniruddha said:

“World Honoured One, I am not qualified to call on him and inquired after his health. For once when I was walking about while meditating to prevent sleepiness, a Brahma called, ‘The Gloriously Pure’, together with an entourage of ten thousand devas sent off rays of light, came to my place, bowed their heads to salute me and asked:

‘How far does your deva eye see?’ I replied:

‘Virtuous one, I see the land of Sakyamuni Buddha in the great chiliocosm like an amala fruit held in my hand.’ Vimalakirti (suddenly) came and said:

‘Hey, Aniruddha, when your deva eye sees, does it see form or formlessness? If it sees form, you are no better than those heretics who have won five supernatural powers. If you see formlessness, your deva eye is non-active (wu wei) and should be unseeing.’ “World Honoured One, I kept silent.”

And the devas praised Vimalakirti for what they had not heard before, They then paid reverence and asked him:

‘Is there anyone in this world who has realized the real deva eye?”

Vimalakirti replied:

“There is the Buddha who has realized the real deva eye; He is always in the state of samadhi and sees all Buddha lands without (giving rise to) the duality (of subjective eye and objective form).”

At that time, Brahma and five hundred of his relatives developed the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi mind; they bowed their heads at Vimalakirti’s feet and suddenly disappeared. This is why I am not qualified to call on him to inquire after his health.”

(4) Others sacrifice all the functions of the senses and the functions of the vital energy (prana) in the fire of the yoga of self-control, illumined by Knowledge.

(3) £ Yajnavalkya/ said he, 'when the voice of a dead man goes into fire, his breath into wind, his eye into the sun, his mind into the moon, his hearing into the quarters of heaven, his body into the earth, his soul (atman) into space, the hairs of his head into plants, the hairs of his body into trees, and his blood and semen are placed in water, what then becomes of this person (purusa)? ' 'Artabhaga, my dear, take my hand. We two only will know of this. This is not for us two [to speak of] in public/ The two went away and deliberated. What they said was karma (action). What they praised was karma. Verily, one becomes good by good action, bad by bad action. Thereupon Jaratkarava Artabhaga held his peace.

(1) He desired: ' Would that this [body] of mine were fit for sacrifice! Would that by it I had a self (atmanmn)! J Thereupon it became a horse (asva), because it swelled (a£vat). ' It has become fit for sacrifice (medhya) \ ' thought he. There- fore the horse-sacrifice is called A6va-medha. He, verily, knows the A3va-medha, who knows it thus. He kept him [i.e. the horse] in mind without confining him. After a year he sacrificed him for himself, [Other] animals he delivered over to the divinities. Therefore men sacrifice the victim which is consecrated to Prajapati as though offered unto all the gods. free for a year. Verily, that [sun] which gives forth heat is the Asva-medha. The year is its embodiment (atmau). This [eaithly] fire is the ar&a. The worlds are its embodi- ments. These aie two, the arka sacrificial fire and the A^va- medha sacrifice. Yet again they are one divinity, even Death. He [who knows this] wards off death again, death obtains him not, death becomes his body (atman\ he becomes one of these deities.

(13) But if one flee from them, through awe and terror being begotten, then, on the Ninth Day, the blood- drinking [deities] of the Vajra Order will come to receive one. Thereupon, the setting-face-to-face is, calling the deceased by name, thus: O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. [He of the blood-drinking Vajra Order named the Bhagavan Vajra-Heruka, dark-blue in colour; with three faces, six hands, and four feet firmly postured; in the first right hand [holding] a dorje, in the middle [one], a skull-bowl, in the last [one], a battle axe; in the first of the left, a bell, in the middle [one] a skull-bowl, in the last [one], a ploughshare: his body embraced by the Mother Vajra-Krotishaurima, her right [hand] clinging to his neck, her left offering to his mouth a red shell [filled with blood], will issue from the eastern quarter of thy brain and come to shine upon thee. Fear it not. Be not terrified. Be not awed. Know it to be the embodiment of thine own intellect. As it is thine own tutelary deity, be not terrified. In reality [they are] the Bhagavan Vajra-Sattva, the Father and Mother. Believe in them. Recognizing them, liberation will be obtained at once. By so proclaiming [them], knowing them to be tutelary deities, merging [in them] in at-one-ment, Buddhahood will be obtained.

(4) Now that which has the form of a person in the left eye Is his wife, Viraj. Their meeting-place [literally, their common praise, or concord] is the space in the heart. Their food is the red lump in the heart. Their covering is the net-like work In the heart. The path that they go is that vein which goes upward from the heart. Like a hair divided a thousandfold, so are the veins called kita, which are established within the heart. Through these flows that which flows on [i. e. the food]. Therefore that [soul which is composed of Indha and Viraj] is, as it were, an eater of finer food than is this bodily self.

(1) The Buddha then asked Vimalakirti:

“You spoke of coming here to see the Tathagata, but how do you see Him impartially?”

Vimalakirti replied:

“Seeing reality in one’s body is how to see the Buddha. I see the Tathagata did not come in the past, will not go in the future, and does not stay in the present. The Tathagata is seen neither in form (rupa, the first aggregate) nor in the extinction of form nor in the underlying nature of form. Neither is He seen in responsiveness (vedana), conception (sanjna), discrimination (samskara) and consciousness (vijnana) (i.e. the four other aggregates), their extinction and their underlying natures. The Tathagata is not created by the four elements (earth, water, fire and air), for He is (immaterial) like space. He does not come from the union of the six entrances (i.e. the six sense organs) for He is beyond eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and intellect. He is beyond the three worlds (of desire, form and formlessness) for He is free from the three defilements (desire, hate and stupidity). He is in line with the three gates to nirvana and has achieved the three states of enlightenment (or three insights) which do not differ from (the underlying nature of) unenlightenment. He is neither unity nor diversity, neither selfness nor otherness, neither form nor formlessness, neither on this shore (of enlightenment) nor in mid-stream when converting living beings. He looks into the nirvanic condition (of stillness and extinction of worldly existence) but does not dwell in its permanent extinction. He is neither this nor that and cannot be revealed by these two extremes. He cannot be known by intellect or perceived by consciousness. He is neither bright nor obscure. He is nameless and formless, being neither strong nor weak, neither clean nor unclean, neither in a given place nor outside of it, and neither mundane nor supramundane. He can neither be pointed out nor spoken of. He is neither charitable nor selfish; he neither keeps nor breaks the precepts; is beyond patience and anger, diligence and remissness, stillness and disturbance. He is neither intelligent nor stupid, and neither honest nor deceitful. He neither comes nor goes and neither enters nor leaves. He is beyond the paths of word and speech. He is neither the field of blessedness nor its opposite, neither worthy nor unworthy of worship and offerings. He can be neither seized nor released and is beyond ‘is’ and ‘is not’. He is equal to reality and to the nature of Dharma (Dharmata) and cannot be designated and estimated, for he is beyond figuring and measuring. He is neither large nor small, is neither visible nor audible, can neither be felt nor known, is free from all ties and bondage, is equal to the All-knowledge and to the (underlying) nature of all living beings, and cannot be differentiated from all things. He is beyond gain and loss, free from defilement and troubles (klesa), beyond creating and giving rise (to anything), beyond birth and death, beyond fear and worry, beyond like and dislike, and beyond existence in the past, future and present. He cannot be revealed by word, speech, discerning and pointing.

(4) Verily, he Is the great, unborn Soul, who is this [person] consisting of knowledge among the senses. In the space within the heart lies the ruler of all, the lord of all, the king of all. He does not become gi eater by good action nor inferior by bad action. He is the lord of all, the overlord of beings, the protector of beings. He is the separating dam for keeping these worlds apart. Such a one the Brahmans desire to know by repetition of the Vedas, by sacrifices, by offerings, by penance, by fasting. On knowing him, in truth, one becomes an ascetic (muni). Desiring him only as their home, mendicants wander forth. Verily, because they know this, the ancients desired not off- spring, saying: <c What shall we do with offspring, we whose is this Soul, this home? " They, verily, rising above the desire for sons and the desire for wealth and the desire for worlds, lived the life of a mendicant. For the desire for sons is the desire for wealth, and the desire for wealth is the desire for worlds; for both these are desires. That Soul (Atman) is not this, it is not that (neti, neti}. It is unseizable, for it cannot be seized. It is indestructible, for it cannot be destroyed. It is unattached, for it does not attach Itself. It is unbound. It does not tremble. It is not injured. Him [who knows this] these two do not overcome — neither the thought <c Hence I did wrong," nor the thought " Hence I did right/' Verily, he overcomes them both. What he has done and what he has not done do not affect him.

(5) Puruna:

The Buddha then said to PurnamaitrayaniputANSWER: “You call on Vimalakirti to enquire after his health on my behalf.”

Purnamaitrayaniputra said:

“World Honoured One, I am not qualified to call on him and enquire after his health. This is because when I was once in a grove and was expunding the Dharma under a tree to a group of newly initiated bhiksus, Vimalakirti came and said:

“Hey, Purnamaitraynaiputra, you should first enter the state of samadhi to examine the minds of your listeners before expounding the Dharma to them. Do not put rotten food in precious bowls. You should know their minds and do not take their precious crystal for (ordinary) glass. If you do not know their propensities, do not teach them Hinayana. They have no wounds, so do not hurt them. To those who want to tread the wide path, do not show narrow tracks. Do not enclose the great sea in the print of an ox’s foot; do not liken sunlight to the dim glow of a firefly. Purnamaitryaniputra, these bhiksus have long ago developed the Mahayana mind but they now forget all about it; how can you teach them Hinayana? Wisdom as taught by Hinayana is shallow; it is like a blind man who cannot discern the sharp from the dull roots of living beings.”

At that time, Vimalakirti entered the state of samadhi and caused the bhiksus to remember their former lives when they had met five hundred Buddhas and had then planted seeds of excellent virtues, which they had dedicated to their quest of supreme enlightenment; they instantly awakened to their past and recovered their fundamental minds. They at once bowed with their heads at the feet of Vimalakirti, who then expounded the Dharma to them; they resumed their quest of supreme enlightenment without backsliding.

I think that Sravakas, who do not know how to look into the roots of their listeners, should not expound the Dharma. Hence, I am not qualified to call on Vimalakirti to inquire after his health.

(1) Now of works, — That which is called the Body (atman) is their hymn of praise (ttktha), for from it arise (ut-tha) all actions. It is their Saman (chant), for it is the same (sama) as all works. It is their prayer (brahman), for it supports ( Vbhar) all works. Although it is that triad, this Soul (Atman) is one. Although it is one, it is that triad. That is the Im- mortal veiled by the real (satya). Life (prana^ ' breath ') [a designation of the Atman], verily, is the Immortal. Name and form are the real. By them this Life is veiled.

(29) At that time, Vimalakirti declared to Mahakasyapa: “Virtuous One, those who appear as kings of demons in countless worlds in the ten directions are mostly Bodhisattvas who have realized this inconceivable liberation and who use expedient devices (upaya) to appear as their rulers in order to convert living beings.

(14) Vimalakirti thought that he should, while remaining seated, take with his hand the world of Profound Joy with its iron enclosing mountains, hills, rivers, streams, ravines, springs, seas, Sumerus, sun, moon, stars, planets, palaces of heavenly dragons, ghosts, spirits and devas, Bodhisattvas, sravakas, towns, hamlets, men and women of all ages, the Immutable Tathagata, his bo-tree (bodhi-tree) and beautiful lotus blossoms, which were used to perform the Buddha work of salvation in the ten directions, as well as the tree flights of gemmed steps linking Jambudvipa (our earth) with Trayastrimsas by which the devas descended to earth to pay reverence to the Immutable Tathagata and to listen to his Dharma, and by which men ascended to Trayastrimsas to see the devas. All this was the product of countless merits of the realm of Profound Joy, from the Akanistha heaven above to the seas below and was lifted by Vimalakirti with his right hand with the same ease with which a potter raises his wheel, taking everything to earth to show it to the assembly as if showing his own head-dress.

(11) Arjuna said: Out of compassion for me You have spoken words of ultimate profundity concerning the Self, and they have dispelled my delusion.