Summary: The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, 56-63, 73-77.

Shin Shin Tang

In Chapter 7, The Goddess, Sariputra and a goddess engage in verbal sparring which ultimately results in Sariputra's awakening through the wisdom of the goddess. During the debate, Sariputra insists that women are inferior to men and he continually attempts to outwit the goddess by asking her philosophical questions about dharma. In one instance, he seemingly praises her eloquence and asks the goddess what she has attained. She replies that there is nothing to attain and that her eloquence derives from not having any realization. Finally, the goddess exchanges physical form with Shariputra, changing him into her form and her into his. Shariputra relents and sees that there is no difference between men and women since neither form is real.

Chapter 9, the Dharma-Door of Nonduality, extends this philosophy. In this chapter a number of bodhisattvas each elucidated the illusion of common distinctions between opposites such as light and dark, good and evil, and teacher and disciple. Eventually, they also name the concepts of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as dualistic since each is itself the nature of the other. The discourse culminates with the question Manjusri poses to Vimalakirti to explain his understanding of nonduality. Vimalakirti's response is to remain silent, indicating that all words and ideas are inevitably dualistic at the level of form but are in fact embraced and affirmed in all-encompassing silence.