The Ideas Of Non-duality In The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra

The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra is very popular in China. It describes that one day the lay disciple Vimalakirti was sick and Buddha sent Manjusri Bodhisattva and many others to visit him. During the meeting, both Vimalakirti and Manjusri Bodhisattva gave wonderful Dharma talks and showed supernatural powers and miracles. Among the Dharma talks, the ideas of non-duality are the most famous, which is the main topic of this thesis.This thesis explores the ideas of non-duality in the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, focusing on the concept of "non-duality" and how this concept is developed in greater detail in the sutra. The main ideas of each chapter in the thesis are as follows:Chapter 1 is a brief introduction of the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, including four sections. The first section is about the origin of the sutra. In the second section we mainly introduce different Chinese translations of the sutra and make a comparison among these versions. The third section is about the commentaries on the sutra. Finally, we will sketch the whole structure of the sutra in order to easily grasp the context in which the ideas of non-duality are developed.In chapter 2, we will explain some key words relating to the notion of non-duality. The meaning, feature and types of duality will be discussed in the first section. This preliminary exposition will help us to have a better understanding of what the Dharma of non-duality is like. In the second section, the meaning, features of duality and how to put the notion into practice are the main concerns.Chapter 3 is the most important part of this thesis, it is about the whole structure of the ideas of non-duality. The first section "the Dharma of non-duality is first...