The Relationship Between "Vimalakirti" And Hinayana Buddhism

After the Vimalakirti Sutra been introduced into China, it was favored rapidly with Chinese culture, and became one of the most important Chinese Mahayana Buddhism classic. Since the modern time, there are a lot of academic circles about the Vimalakirti Sutra. These articles involved the philosophy, literature, aesthetics, literature science etc. The Vimalakirti Sutra as the earlier Mahayana classic, the thought was connect with Hinayana Buddhism closely. However, few scholars pay attention to this topic. This paper is trying to make a systematic study of this issue.This paper divided into three chapters, which include the inheritance of Hinayana in the Vimalakirti Sutra, the transcendence of Hinayana in the Vimalakirti Sutra and the subtle relationship with the Vimalakirti Sutra and Hinayana Buddhism.The Vimalakirti Sutra was originated in the early Buddhism. It is related to Hinayana Buddhism closely. The first chapter compared the Hinayana Buddhism classics and the Vimalakirti Sutra. It is proved that the philosophy thought and the plot in the Vimalakirti Sutra are closely to the Hinayana Buddhism in many aspects. Although, there are many critique of Hinayana Buddhism by the Vimalakirti Sutra. But it inherited many thoughts of Hinayana Buddhism in the period of Department of Buddhism.The second chapter focuses on explaining that the Vimalakirti Sutra is the transcendence of Hinayana Buddhism. The Vimalakirti Sutra criticizes the Hinayana Buddhism obviously, by putting forward their own MahayanaBuddhism ideas. There are three parts of this topic, which are the philosophy of religion, the free of religion and the religious practice. In the discussion of these aspects, it shows the Mahayana Buddhism ideas of the Vimalakirti Sutra.On the basis of the former two chapters, chapter three discussed the inheritance and transcendence of Hinayana Buddhism by the Vimalakirti Sutra having a deep impact on the development of Buddhism and Chinese society. It is important embodiment of the comprehensive spirit of Buddhism by that the Vimalakirti Sutra sublets the Hinayana Buddhism.In short, comparing the Hinayana Buddhism classic and the Vimalakirti Sutra, the inheritance and transcendence of Hinayana Buddhism is highlighted. On the one hand, the Vimalakirti Sutra has the humanistic care to the Hinayana Buddhism. On the other hand, it is emphasized that the distinction of the Mahayana Buddhism and the Hinayana Buddhism. The Vimalakirti Sutra highlights the basic spirit of Mahayana Buddhism based on summarizing and transcendence of the Hinayana Buddhism, and has a big influence on the future development of Buddhism.