Vimalakirti

Vimalakīrti
Sculpture of Vimalakirti at the Hosso (Yogacara) temple of Kōfuku-ji, 1196 CE
Sanskrit
  • विमलकीर्ति
  • IAST: Vimalakīrti
Chinese
  • 维摩诘
  • Pinyin: Wéi mó jí
Japanese
Korean
  • 비말라키르티
  • RR: Bimallakileuti
Tibetan
ཝི་མ་ལ་ཀིརྟི།
  • THL: Dri med grags pa
Vietnamese
Duy Ma Cật
Information
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Vimalakīrti (Sanskrit: विमल vimala "stainless, undefiled" + कीर्ति kīrti "fame, glory, reputation") is a bodhisattva and the central figure in the Vimalakirti Sutra, which presents him as the ideal Mahayana Buddhist upāsaka ("lay practitioner") and a contemporary of Gautama Buddha (6th to 5th century BCE). There is no mention of him in Buddhist texts until after Nāgārjuna (1st century BCE to 2nd century CE) revived Mahayana Buddhism in India. The Mahayana Vimalakirti Sutra also spoke of the city of Vaisali as where the lay Licchavi bodhisattva Vimalakirti was residing.