Book Club Reading: The Vimalakirti Sutra (Last Session) <Sutra for the laity>
Details
Dear Dharma Drink Friends,
So excited to read The Vimalakirti Sutra! This sutra is a very important Mahayana scripture. It is one of the few sutras where the protagonist is a lay person, not Buddha or one of his main ordained disciples.
Book Title / Translator: The Vilamakirti Sutra / John R McRae
This book club is meant for us to read the sutra and help each other where we can. This is NOT a book club for us to expound. For deeper learning, you can seek out centers that are giving Dharma talks on this sutra.
This is a considered a fairly short sutra with only around 130 pages. We like to finish this sutra in 6-8 sessions. Everyone must pre-read before participating.
READING: Fascicle THREE, Chapters X, XI, & XII. (through page 170).
HOMEWORK: Come with 2 questions or comments & 1 favorite quote.
Per Description from Columbia University's Press on the Vilamakirti Sutra: "One of the most popular Asian classics for roughly two thousand years, the Vimalakirti Sutra stands out among the sacred texts of Mahayana Buddhism for its conciseness, its vivid and humorous episodes, its dramatic narratives, and its eloquent exposition of the key doctrine of emptiness or nondualism. Unlike most sutras, its central figure is not a Buddha but a wealthy townsman, who, in his mastery of doctrine and religious practice, epitomizes the ideal lay believer. For this reason, the sutra has held particular significance for men and women of the laity in Buddhist countries of Asia, assuring them that they can reach levels of spiritual attainment fully comparable to those accessible to monks and nuns of the monastic order. "
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Eddie
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Book Club Reading: The Vimalakirti Sutra (Last Session) <Sutra for the laity>