유마경(維摩經)의 선정사상(禪淨思想)

The Thought on Seon and Pure Land of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa

The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa (The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti) is ranked as one of the developed Sūtras (Vaipulyasūtra, 方廣經 or 方等經) of the Great Vehicle in Buddhism. The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti stands out like a masterfully faceted diamond among the glittering profusion of the jewelry of the Mahāyāna Buddhist Scriptures. The Vimalakīrti -nirdeśa seems to be located between the Transcendent Wisdom(Prajñāpāramitā) Scriptures and the Garland (Avataṃsaka) or Inconceivable Liberation (Acintyavimokṣa) Scriptures. It contains a quintessence of Mahāyāna doctrines both of the profound and of the extensive categories, and its aesthetic virtue as an object of the connoisseur s religious exultation. For this reason, a great many generations of Mahāyāna Buddhists in India, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and South East Asia were disposed to study, revere, and enjoy this Scripture, attaining enlightenment, inspiration, and finding the grace of pleasant humor. The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa is composed of twelve chapters in Sanskrit prose, in which there are two groups of stanzas (gāthā) in mixed or hybrid Sanskrit. In the course of time it underwent some alterations and enlargements which concern only secondary points. Nothing concrete is known about the original text of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa. Tradition says that it purports to record events that took place during Gautama Buddha s time (sixth to fifth century B.C.), but no text was apparent in India until after Nāgārjuna had revived the Mahāyāna traditions, discovering the Mahāyāna Sanskrit Scriptures, in which there was the Vimalakīrti text. This text was subsequently translated into Chinese seven different times. The oldest state of the text is represented by the Chinese translation of Chih Ch ien(支謙, third century); the intermediate state by the translation of Kumārajīva(鳩摩羅什, A.D. 406) being the most popular; and the version of Hsüan Tsang(玄奘, A.D. 650) the most technically accurate. It was translated into Tibetan twice, and the definitive version was completed in the ninth century by the eminent translator Chos Ñid Tshul Khrims. In conclusion, ‘vimala’ implies the meaning of ‘spotless or pure’, ‘kīrti’ has that of ‘admire’, and ‘nirdeśa’ stands for that of ‘preach.’ Accordingly, I am sure that ‘Vimalkīrti-nirdeśa’ implies the meaning of ‘the sūtra which admires and preaches the Pure Mind.’ In connection with the meaning, this thesis has consistently traced “the Pure Mind” to its source. Thus, it has become clear that it is very pertinent for me to have studied “The Thought on Seon and Pure Land of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa” which admires and preaches “the Pure Mind.” Then, what is “the Pure Mind”? As stated above, for the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa which denies any basis to the phenomenal world, the Luminous Mind, to which it refers in Chapter Ⅲ, §34, stands for the absence of all thought: “The mind”, it says, “is immaterial, invisible, without support and without intellect.” And what is the best way to get at the Luminous Mind, that is, “the pure and simple inexistence of thought”? I believe that if we practised an effective method of developing wisdom and great compassion by the eight-fold noble path and the six kinds of practice, we could surely attain enlightenment and that if we got at “the pure and simple inexistence of thought”, we could achieve the Inconceivable Liberation and the Supernatural Powers. And I also believe that wisdom (prajñā) and great compassion (mahākaruṇā) are the essence of the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna), and of the Middle Way. If so, what is the ultimate aim and good of attaining enlightenment, that is, of getting at “the pure and s