Moodboard: Excerpt from "Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex" (Johns Stephens. 1990). Vimalakīrti the layman, outsmarting arrogant Buddhist monks.

 

"...Others maintained that Buddha’s message had nothing to do with celibacy—insight and compassion were the two pillars of Buddhism, and those two faculties could be developed regardless of one’s station in life. Such is the position presented in the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra featuring an astute layman who confounds all Buddha’s monastic disciples. In this sutra, indeed, the tension that perennially exists between monastic and lay practitioners is depicted in the sharpest focus. Since a layman is the hero in this story, the monks are portrayed as dullards. They are completely befuddled by the wise Vimalakīrti, who was, we are told, supremely skilled in techniques that lead to the liberation of all beings, not of just a few select celibates. Vimalakīrti had a wife, children, and a host of female attendants, yet he remained untainted by desire. He freely mixed with all manner of people—on occasion, Vimalakīrti could be found in a brothel or a wine shop—all the time pointing the way to salvation. The monks were no match for him. Sāriputra, the wisest of Buddha’s disciples, was sitting in solitary meditation beneath a tree deep in the forest when he was suddenly approached by Vimalakīrti. The layman told the monk in no uncertain terms, “This is not the way to meditate. You must place yourself in a state of contemplation where there is neither body nor mind; where you manifest ordinary behavior while in nirvana; where you act like a normal person without losing your spiritual nature; where your mind neither settles nor moves about; and where nothing troubles you at any stage of practice. In short, you must attain liberation without avoiding the passions that rule the world!” Sāriputra was dumbstruck.  

Subhūti, another monastic disciple, had a similar harrowing run-in with Vimalakīrti. One day while on his mendicant rounds, Subhūti appeared at Vimalakīrti’s door. The layman offered Subhūti some tasty morsels, for which his household was famed, but first admonished him, “Unless you defame the Buddha, ignore his teachings, and keep company with demons, you are not worthy of this food.” Just as Subhūti was about to flee in horror, Vimalakīrti cried out, “Wait! Do not be afraid. All things are mere phantoms—words, too. Do not be confused by them.  Understand the true nature of all things, and you will be liberated..."

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"Lust for Enlightenment:  Buddhism and Sex" (Johns Stephens.  1990)