The Bodhisattvas Decline
菩薩品第四
With all ten disciples excused, the Buddha turns to four bodhisattvas — Maitreya himself among them — and finds the same pattern: each recalls a past encounter with Vimalakīrti that dismantled a teaching they thought settled, on the emptiness of prophecy, on where the place of awakening actually is, on Māra's own dancers, and on what real giving means.
- This part covers
- Maitreya, the future buddha of this world; the youth Prabhāvyūha; the bodhisattva Jagatīṃdhara; and the elder's son Sudatta — the last four figures in the sūtra's roll call of those unable to visit the ailing Vimalakīrti.
- What follows
- With every disciple and bodhisattva having declined, the Buddha turns at last to Mañjuśrī in Part 6 — the one figure in the assembly willing to go.
11. Maitreya and the Prophecy That Cannot Be Located
於是佛告彌勒菩薩：「汝行詣維摩詰問疾。」彌勒白佛言：「世尊！我不堪任詣彼問疾。所以者何？憶念我昔為兜率天王及其眷屬，說不退轉地之行。時維摩詰來謂我言：『彌勒！世尊授仁者記，一生當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。為用何生得受記乎？過去耶？未來耶？現在耶？若過去生，過去生已滅；若未來生，未來生未至；若現在生，現在生無住。如佛所說：「比丘！汝今即時亦生亦老亦滅。」若以無生得受記者，無生即是正位；於正位中，亦無受記，亦無得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。云何彌勒受一生記乎？為從如生得受記耶？為從如滅得受記耶？若以如生得受記者，如無有生；若以如滅得受記者，如無有滅。一切眾生皆如也，一切法亦如也，眾聖賢亦如也，至於彌勒亦如也。若彌勒得受記者，一切眾生亦應受記。所以者何？夫如者不二不異，若彌勒得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提者，一切眾生皆亦應得。所以者何？一切眾生即菩提相。若彌勒得滅度者，一切眾生亦應滅度。所以者何？諸佛知一切眾生畢竟寂滅，即涅槃相，不復更滅。是故，彌勒！無以此法誘諸天子，實無發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心者，亦無退者。彌勒！當令此諸天子，捨於分別菩提之見。所以者何？菩提者不可以身得，不可以心得；寂滅是菩提，滅諸相故；不觀是菩提，離諸緣故；不行是菩提，無憶念故；斷是菩提，捨諸見故；離是菩提，離諸妄想故；障是菩提，障諸願故；不入是菩提，無貪著故；順是菩提，順於如故；住是菩提，住法性故；至是菩提，至實際故；不二是菩提，離意法故；等是菩提，等虛空故；無為是菩提，無生住滅故；知是菩提，了眾生心行故；不會是菩提，諸入不會故；不合是菩提，離煩惱習故；無處是菩提，無形色故；假名是菩提，名字空故；如化是菩提，無取捨故；無亂是菩提，常自靜故；善寂是菩提，性清淨故；無取是菩提，離攀緣故；無異是菩提，諸法等故；無比是菩提，無可喻故；微妙是菩提，諸法難知故。』世尊！維摩詰說是法時，二百天子得無生法忍。故我不任詣彼問疾。」
Then the Buddha said to the bodhisattva Maitreya: "Go and inquire after Vimalakīrti's illness." Maitreya said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, I am not able to go and inquire after his illness. And why? I recall that once, when I was teaching the practice of the stage of non-retrogression to the king of the Tuṣita heaven and his retinue, Vimalakīrti came and said to me: 'Maitreya, the World-Honored One has bestowed on you the prophecy that in a single lifetime you will attain unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening. By which lifetime do you receive this prophecy — the past one, the future one, or the present one? If it is a past lifetime, that past lifetime has already ceased. If it is a future lifetime, that future lifetime has not yet arrived. If it is the present lifetime, the present lifetime does not stay still. As the Buddha himself has said: "Monks, at this very moment you are simultaneously being born, growing old, and ceasing." If it is by way of birthlessness that you receive this prophecy, then birthlessness itself is the correct station; and within the correct station there is neither the receiving of a prophecy nor the attaining of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening. How, then, does Maitreya receive a prophecy of one more lifetime? Do you receive it by way of suchness arising, or by way of suchness ceasing? If you receive it by way of suchness arising, suchness has no arising in it; if you receive it by way of suchness ceasing, suchness has no ceasing in it. Every being is suchness; every phenomenon, too, is suchness; every sage and worthy is suchness; and Maitreya, too, is suchness. If Maitreya receives this prophecy, then every being should equally receive it. And why? Because suchness is neither two nor different from itself. If Maitreya attains unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, then every being should equally attain it. And why? Because every being is itself the very mark of awakening. If Maitreya attains extinction, then every being should equally attain extinction. And why? Because the buddhas know that every being is, in the end, already utterly still — already the mark of nirvāṇa itself — with nothing further left to extinguish. Therefore, Maitreya, do not use this teaching to mislead these young gods — there is, in truth, no one who gives rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, and no one who falls back from it either. Maitreya, you should lead these young gods to abandon their discriminating view of awakening. And why? Because awakening cannot be attained by the body, and cannot be attained by the mind. Stillness is awakening, since it extinguishes every mark. Not observing is awakening, since it is free of every object. Not acting is awakening, since it has no thought or memory. Cutting off is awakening, since it abandons every view. Departing is awakening, since it departs from every false thought. Obstruction is awakening, since it obstructs every wish. Not entering is awakening, since it has no craving or attachment. According is awakening, since it accords with suchness. Abiding is awakening, since it abides in the nature of phenomena. Arriving is awakening, since it arrives at the ultimate limit of reality. Non-duality is awakening, since it is apart from mind and its objects. Equality is awakening, since it is equal to empty space. The unconditioned is awakening, since it has no arising, abiding, or ceasing. Knowing is awakening, since it fully understands the minds and conduct of every being. Non-convergence is awakening, since the sense-fields do not converge in it. Non-union is awakening, since it is apart from the habitual residue of affliction. Placelessness is awakening, since it has no shape or form. Provisional naming is awakening, since names and words are themselves empty. Being like a conjured thing is awakening, since it neither takes up nor sets down anything. Being unconfused is awakening, since it is always, of itself, still. Genuine stillness is awakening, since its nature is pure. Non-grasping is awakening, since it is free of anything to cling to. Non-difference is awakening, since every phenomenon is equal in it. Incomparability is awakening, since there is nothing it can be likened to. Subtlety is awakening, since every phenomenon is hard, in it, to fully know.' World-Honored One, when Vimalakīrti taught this Dharma, two hundred young gods attained the acquiescence to the birthlessness of phenomena. This is why I am not able to go and inquire after his illness."
Kumārajīva notes why the sūtra turns to Maitreya first among the bodhisattvas: he is destined to inherit Śākyamuni's role and become the next buddha of this world, revered above the others for exactly that reason, so his failure here carries the same staging weight Śāriputra's did in Part 3's opening. The target of Vimalakīrti's argument is, fittingly, the single most concrete individual spiritual credential imaginable in the entire tradition: a buddha's own personal prophecy, naming Maitreya specifically, of a specific future buddhahood. Vimalakīrti's method is to ask exactly when this prophecy could have been received — in a past life already gone, a future life not yet arrived, or a present life that (as the Buddha's own teaching on impermanence holds) never stays still long enough to receive anything at all — and to show that no lifetime supplies a stable place for the event to have happened in.
The argument's real turn comes with "every being is suchness... and Maitreya, too, is suchness": if what actually grounds Maitreya's prophecy is his own share in a suchness identical to everyone else's, then the prophecy cannot be a privilege unique to him without also, by the same logic, belonging to every being equally — which is not a claim that everyone will literally become the next buddha of this world, but that the entire premise of a uniquely locatable, individually-owned attainment called "awakening" does not survive close examination. The closing catalogue of some two dozen "X is awakening, since Y" clauses works the same way the comparable lists in earlier disciples' chapters do — one point restated from many directions — but this list is aimed with unusual precision: every clause targets a way of imagining awakening as something a particular self acquires, holds, or is granted, which is exactly the frame Maitreya's own prophecy invites a listener to take for granted.
12. Prabhāvyūha and Where the Place of Awakening Really Is
佛告光嚴童子：「汝行詣維摩詰問疾。」光嚴白佛言：「世尊！我不堪任詣彼問疾。所以者何？憶念我昔出毘耶離大城，時維摩詰方入城，我即為作禮而問言：『居士從何所來？』答我言：『吾從道場來。』我問：『道場者何所是？』答曰：『直心是道場，無虛假故；發行是道場，能辦事故；深心是道場，增益功德故；菩提心是道場，無錯謬故；布施是道場，不望報故；持戒是道場，得願具故；忍辱是道場，於諸眾生心無礙故；精進是道場，不懈退故；禪定是道場，心調柔故；智慧是道場，現見諸法故；慈是道場，等眾生故；悲是道場，忍疲苦故；喜是道場，悅樂法故；捨是道場，憎愛斷故；神通是道場，成就六通故；解脫是道場，能背捨故；方便是道場，教化眾生故；四攝是道場，攝眾生故；多聞是道場，如聞行故；伏心是道場，正觀諸法故；三十七品是道場，捨有為法故；諦是道場，不誑世間故；緣起是道場，無明乃至老死皆無盡故；諸煩惱是道場，知如實故；眾生是道場，知無我故；一切法是道場，知諸法空故；降魔是道場，不傾動故；三界是道場，無所趣故；師子吼是道場，無所畏故；力、無畏、不共法是道場，無諸過故；三明是道場，無餘礙故；一念知一切法是道場，成就一切智故。如是，善男子！菩薩若應諸波羅蜜教化眾生，諸有所作，舉足下足，當知皆從道場來，住於佛法矣！』說是法時，五百天、人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。故我不任詣彼問疾。」
The Buddha said to the youth Prabhāvyūha: "Go and inquire after Vimalakīrti's illness." Prabhāvyūha said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, I am not able to go and inquire after his illness. And why? I recall that once, as I was leaving the great city of Vaiśālī, Vimalakīrti was just then entering it. I bowed to him in homage and asked: 'Householder, where have you come from?' He answered me: 'I have come from the place of awakening.' I asked: 'What is this place of awakening?' He answered: 'A straightforward mind is the place of awakening, since it is free of anything false. Giving rise to conduct is the place of awakening, since it accomplishes things. A deep mind is the place of awakening, since it increases merit. The mind of awakening is the place of awakening, since it makes no mistake. Giving is the place of awakening, since it expects no reward. Discipline is the place of awakening, since it fulfills every vow. Patience is the place of awakening, since it holds no obstruction toward any being. Diligence is the place of awakening, since it never grows slack or turns back. Meditative concentration is the place of awakening, since it makes the mind pliant and gentle. Wisdom is the place of awakening, since it sees every phenomenon directly. Loving-kindness is the place of awakening, since it regards every being equally. Compassion is the place of awakening, since it endures every weariness and hardship. Sympathetic joy is the place of awakening, since it delights in the Dharma. Equanimity is the place of awakening, since it cuts off both hatred and attachment. Spiritual powers are the place of awakening, since they accomplish the six supernormal faculties. Liberation is the place of awakening, since it is able to relinquish everything. Skillful means is the place of awakening, since it converts and teaches beings. The four means of gathering beings are the place of awakening, since they draw beings in. Broad learning is the place of awakening, since it is practiced exactly as it is heard. Taming the mind is the place of awakening, since it rightly observes every phenomenon. The thirty-seven factors of the path are the place of awakening, since they relinquish every conditioned thing. Truth is the place of awakening, since it never deceives the world. Dependent origination is the place of awakening, since ignorance, and everything up through old age and death, is inexhaustible in it. Every affliction is the place of awakening, since it is known exactly as it truly is. Beings are the place of awakening, since they are known to be without self. Every phenomenon is the place of awakening, since every phenomenon is known to be empty. Overcoming Māra is the place of awakening, since it is unshaken. The three realms are the place of awakening, since there is nowhere left to go in them. The lion's roar is the place of awakening, since it has no fear. The powers, the fearlessnesses, and the exclusive qualities are the place of awakening, since they are free of every fault. The three knowledges are the place of awakening, since they are free of any remaining obstruction. Knowing every phenomenon in a single thought is the place of awakening, since it accomplishes all-knowing wisdom. Just so, good sir — if a bodhisattva, in according with the perfections, converts and teaches beings, then whatever he does, wherever he sets his foot down or lifts it up, you should know that all of it comes from the place of awakening, and abides in the Buddha's own Dharma.' When he taught this Dharma, five hundred devas and humans gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening. This is why I am not able to go and inquire after his illness."
Sengzhao's note on why this particular exchange happened at the city gate is worth having: Prabhāvyūha's own temperament favored quiet retreat, and he was, by nature, "always setting his heart on secluded places" (每以靜處為心) — he had left the city that day specifically in search of a place to practice. Vimalakīrti's answer relocates the entire question rather than answering it on its own terms: the place of awakening (bodhimaṇḍa, the ground beneath the bodhi tree where a buddha attains awakening) is not a location to be sought out at all, but each of the thirty-some qualities named in turn.
Sengzhao's own gloss on the opening clause states the whole exchange's point as plainly as the text itself does: "if one can hold the place of awakening within one's own chest, and set aside every entanglement outside the body, then even standing in noise and crowds, in the very midst of ordinary affairs, wherever one moves is nothing other than the place of awakening." This line became one of the most quoted from the entire sūtra in later Chinese Buddhist writing, particularly within Chan circles centuries later, as an early and exact statement of a principle that tradition would return to again and again: that practice does not require a special place, because there is, properly understood, no place that is not one.
13. Jagatīṃdhara, Māra's Dancers, and the Inexhaustible Lamp
佛告持世菩薩：「汝行詣維摩詰問疾。」持世白佛言：「世尊！我不堪任詣彼問疾。所以者何？憶念我昔，住於靜室，時魔波旬，從萬二千天女，狀如帝釋，鼓樂絃歌，來詣我所。與其眷屬，稽首我足，合掌恭敬，於一面立。我意謂是帝釋，而語之言：『善來憍尸迦！雖福應有，不當自恣。當觀五欲無常，以求善本，於身命財而修堅法。』即語我言：『正士！受是萬二千天女，可備掃灑。』我言：『憍尸迦！無以此非法之物要我沙門釋子，此非我宜。』所言未訖，時維摩詰來謂我言：『非帝釋也，是為魔來嬈固汝耳！』即語魔言：『是諸女等，可以與我，如我應受。』魔即驚懼，念：『維摩詰將無惱我？』欲隱形去，而不能隱；盡其神力，亦不得去。即聞空中聲曰：『波旬！以女與之，乃可得去。』魔以畏故，俛仰而與。爾時維摩詰語諸女言：『魔以汝等與我，今汝皆當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。』即隨所應而為說法，令發道意。復言：『汝等已發道意，有法樂可以自娛，不應復樂五欲樂也。』天女即問：『何謂法樂？』答言：『樂常信佛，樂欲聽法，樂供養眾，樂離五欲；樂觀五陰如怨賊，樂觀四大如毒蛇，樂觀內入如空聚；樂隨護道意，樂饒益眾生，樂敬養師；樂廣行施，樂堅持戒，樂忍辱柔和，樂勤集善根，樂禪定不亂，樂離垢明慧；樂廣菩提心，樂降伏眾魔，樂斷諸煩惱，樂淨佛國土，樂成就相好故，修諸功德；樂嚴道場；樂聞深法不畏；樂三脫門，不樂非時；樂近同學，樂於非同學中，心無恚礙；樂將護惡知識，樂親近善知識；樂心喜清淨，樂修無量道品之法。是為菩薩法樂。』於是波旬告諸女言：『我欲與汝俱還天宮。』諸女言：『以我等與此居士，有法樂我等甚樂，不復樂五欲樂也。』魔言：『居士可捨此女？一切所有施於彼者，是為菩薩。』維摩詰言：『我已捨矣！汝便將去，令一切眾生得法願具足。』於是諸女問維摩詰：『我等云何止於魔宮？』維摩詰言：『諸姊！有法門名無盡燈，汝等當學。無盡燈者，譬如一燈，燃百千燈，冥者皆明，明終不盡。如是，諸姊！夫一菩薩開導百千眾生，令發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，於其道意亦不滅盡，隨所說法而自增益一切善法，是名無盡燈也。汝等雖住魔宮，以是無盡燈，令無數天子天女發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心者，為報佛恩，亦大饒益一切眾生。』爾時天女頭面禮維摩詰足，隨魔還宮，忽然不現。世尊！維摩詰有如是自在神力、智慧辯才，故我不任詣彼問疾。」
The Buddha said to the bodhisattva Jagatīṃdhara: "Go and inquire after Vimalakīrti's illness." Jagatīṃdhara said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, I am not able to go and inquire after his illness. And why? I recall that once, while I was dwelling in a quiet room, Māra Pāpīyas, together with twelve thousand celestial maidens, appeared in the form of Indra, playing music and singing, and came to where I was. Together with his retinue he bowed his head to my feet, joined his palms in reverence, and stood to one side. I took him to be Indra, and said to him: 'Welcome, Kauśika! Though you have merit enough to deserve this, you should not indulge yourself without restraint. You should regard the five desires as impermanent, and seek the roots of goodness, cultivating the firm practices with respect to your body, your life, and your wealth.' He then said to me: 'Noble one, please accept these twelve thousand celestial maidens — let them serve you and keep your quarters.' I said: 'Kauśika, do not press this unlawful gift upon a renunciant, a son of the Śākya — this is not fitting for me.' Before I had even finished speaking, Vimalakīrti came and said to me: 'This is not Indra — this is Māra, come to trouble and unsettle you.' Then he said to Māra: 'You may give these maidens to me — it is fitting that I should receive them.' Māra, startled and afraid, thought to himself: 'Could it be that Vimalakīrti means to trouble me?' He tried to make himself invisible and slip away, but could not vanish; he exerted the whole of his spiritual power, but still could not leave. Then a voice was heard from the sky, saying: 'Pāpīyas, only by giving the maidens to him will you be able to leave.' Māra, out of fear, reluctantly gave them over. Vimalakīrti then said to the maidens: 'Since Māra has given you to me, you should now, every one of you, give rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening.' And he taught the Dharma to each of them according to what was fitting, causing them to give rise to the intent for the path. He then said: 'Now that you have given rise to the intent for the path, you have the joy of the Dharma to delight in — you should no longer delight in the pleasures of the five desires.' The celestial maidens then asked: 'What is the joy of the Dharma?' He answered: 'It is the joy of constant faith in the Buddha; the joy of wishing to hear the Dharma; the joy of making offerings to the community; the joy of freedom from the five desires; the joy of regarding the five aggregates as a band of thieves; the joy of regarding the four elements as venomous snakes; the joy of regarding one's own inner sense-fields as an empty village; the joy of guarding and protecting the intent for the path; the joy of benefiting beings; the joy of honoring and providing for one's teacher; the joy of practicing giving widely; the joy of firmly upholding discipline; the joy of patience and gentleness; the joy of diligently gathering roots of goodness; the joy of undistracted meditative concentration; the joy of a wisdom clear and free of defilement; the joy of an expansive mind of awakening; the joy of overcoming every demon; the joy of cutting off every affliction; the joy of purifying buddha-lands; the joy of cultivating every merit for the sake of accomplishing the marks and signs; the joy of adorning the place of awakening; the joy of hearing the profound Dharma without fear; the joy of the three gates of liberation, without the joy of realizing them before their time; the joy of closeness with fellow students, and a mind free of resentment even toward those who are not; the joy of carefully guiding a bad companion, and the joy of drawing near a good one; the joy of a mind glad and pure; the joy of cultivating the immeasurable teachings of the path. This is the bodhisattva's joy in the Dharma.' Māra then said to the maidens: 'I wish to return with you to the heavenly palace.' The maidens said: 'You have already given us to this householder — we have the joy of the Dharma now, and delight in it greatly; we no longer delight in the pleasures of the five desires.' Māra said: 'Householder, would you release these women? To give away everything one has to another is what it means to be a bodhisattva.' Vimalakīrti said: 'I have already released them — take them and go, so that every being's wish for the Dharma may be fully satisfied.' The maidens then asked Vimalakīrti: 'How, then, shall we go on living in Māra's palace?' Vimalakīrti said: 'Sisters, there is a Dharma-gate called the Inexhaustible Lamp — you should learn it. The inexhaustible lamp is like a single lamp that lights a hundred thousand other lamps: what was dark becomes bright, and the light is never exhausted. Just so, sisters: when a single bodhisattva opens and guides a hundred thousand beings, causing them to give rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, his own intent for the path is not thereby diminished at all — rather, with every teaching he gives, all his own wholesome qualities increase further still. This is called the inexhaustible lamp. Though you now dwell in Māra's palace, if you use this inexhaustible lamp to lead countless young gods and goddesses to give rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, this will be your way of repaying the Buddha's kindness, and will also greatly benefit every being.' At this the celestial maidens bowed their heads to Vimalakīrti's feet, and, following Māra, returned to his palace and suddenly vanished. World-Honored One, this is the kind of self-mastery, spiritual power, wisdom, and eloquence Vimalakīrti has — this is why I am not able to go and inquire after his illness."
"Kauśika" is Indra's own clan name, which is why Jagatīṃdhara's confusion is understandable rather than careless — Māra's disguise was specific and deliberate. What is worth noticing is what Vimalakīrti does not do once he exposes the deception: he does not lecture Māra or send him away empty-handed. He simply accepts the gift outright — "it is fitting that I should receive them" — and that acceptance itself becomes the mechanism of the maidens' liberation. Kumārajīva's note on the passage's close observes a further layer to this: when Vimalakīrti finally "gives the maidens back" to a defeated, deflated Māra, his vow — "so that every being's wish for the Dharma may be fully satisfied" — quietly repurposes even Māra's own self-interested wish to reclaim his dancers into material for a bodhisattva's aspiration. Nothing offered to Vimalakīrti in this chapter, not even a demon's attempted seduction, leaves his hands without being converted into something else.
The Inexhaustible Lamp is this section's most lasting image, and it resolves a real problem the maidens themselves raise: having tasted the joy of the Dharma, must they now be extracted from Māra's palace to practice it? Vimalakīrti's answer is no — a single lamp lighting a hundred thousand others loses no brightness of its own in the process, and a bodhisattva who awakens others loses nothing of his own resolve either. The maidens are sent back into Māra's own palace not in spite of the teaching they have just received but because of it, turned from Māra's court into missionaries working from directly inside it — one more instance, after the pure-land teaching in Part 1 and the "place of awakening is wherever you already are" teaching earlier in this chapter, of the sūtra's recurring refusal to locate genuine practice anywhere other than exactly where a person already stands.
14. Sudatta and the True Dharma-Giving Assembly
佛告長者子善德：「汝行詣維摩詰問疾。」善德白佛言：「世尊！我不堪任詣彼問疾。所以者何？憶念我昔自於父舍設大施會，供養一切沙門、婆羅門，及諸外道、貧窮、下賤、孤獨、乞人。期滿七日，時維摩詰來入會中，謂我言：『長者子！夫大施會不當如汝所設，當為法施之會，何用是財施會為？』我言：『居士！何謂法施之會？』答曰：『法施會者，無前無後，一時供養一切眾生，是名法施之會。』曰：『何謂也？』『謂以菩提，起於慈心；以救眾生，起大悲心；以持正法，起於喜心；以攝智慧，行於捨心；以攝慳貪，起檀波羅蜜；以化犯戒，起尸羅波羅蜜；以無我法，起羼提波羅蜜；以離身心相，起毘梨耶波羅蜜；以菩提相，起禪波羅蜜；以一切智，起般若波羅蜜。教化眾生，而起於空；不捨有為法，而起無相；示現受生，而起無作；護持正法，起方便力；以度眾生，起四攝法；以敬事一切，起除慢法；於身命財，起三堅法；於六念中，起思念法；於六和敬，起質直心；正行善法，起於淨命；心淨歡喜，起近賢聖；不憎惡人，起調伏心；以出家法，起於深心；以如說行，起於多聞；以無諍法，起空閑處；趣向佛慧，起於宴坐；解眾生縛，起修行地；以具相好，及淨佛土，起福德業；知一切眾生心念，如應說法，起於智業；知一切法不取不捨，入一相門，起於慧業；斷一切煩惱、一切障礙、一切不善法，起一切善業；以得一切智慧、一切善法，起於一切助佛道法。如是，善男子！是為法施之會。若菩薩住是法施會者，為大施主，亦為一切世間福田。』世尊！維摩詰說是法時，婆羅門眾中二百人，皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。我時心得清淨，歎未曾有！稽首禮維摩詰足，即解瓔珞價直百千以上之，不肯取。我言：『居士！願必納受，隨意所與。』維摩詰乃受瓔珞，分作二分，持一分施此會中一最下乞人，持一分奉彼難勝如來。一切眾會皆見光明國土難勝如來，又見珠瓔在彼佛上變成四柱寶臺，四面嚴飾，不相障蔽。時維摩詰現神變已，作是言：『若施主等心施一最下乞人，猶如如來福田之相，無所分別，等于大悲，不求果報，是則名曰具足法施。』城中一最下乞人，見是神力，聞其所說，皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，故我不任詣彼問疾。」
The Buddha said to the elder's son Sudatta: "Go and inquire after Vimalakīrti's illness." Sudatta said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, I am not able to go and inquire after his illness. And why? I recall that once, at my father's house, I held a great assembly of giving, making offerings to every renunciant, brahmin, and follower of other paths, and to the poor, the lowly, the destitute, and beggars. On the day the seven-day term was to be completed, Vimalakīrti came into the assembly and said to me: 'Elder's son, a great assembly of giving should not be conducted the way you have arranged it — it should be a Dharma-giving assembly. What use is this assembly of material giving?' I said: 'Householder, what is meant by a Dharma-giving assembly?' He answered: 'A Dharma-giving assembly is one with no earlier and no later — it makes offering to every being at once. This is called a Dharma-giving assembly.' I said: 'What do you mean by this?' He said: 'It means giving rise to a mind of loving-kindness by means of awakening; giving rise to a mind of great compassion by means of saving beings; giving rise to a mind of sympathetic joy by means of upholding the true Dharma; giving rise to a mind of equanimity by means of gathering in wisdom; giving rise to the perfection of giving by means of gathering in stinginess and greed; giving rise to the perfection of discipline by means of converting those who break the precepts; giving rise to the perfection of patience by means of the teaching of no-self; giving rise to the perfection of diligence by means of freedom from the marks of body and mind; giving rise to the perfection of meditative concentration by means of the mark of awakening; giving rise to the perfection of wisdom by means of all-knowing wisdom. Giving rise to emptiness through converting and teaching beings; giving rise to signlessness while not abandoning conditioned things; giving rise to non-action while manifesting the taking of birth; giving rise to the power of skillful means by protecting and upholding the true Dharma; giving rise to the four means of gathering beings by bringing beings across; giving rise to the practice of removing pride by honoring and serving everyone; giving rise to the three firm practices with respect to body, life, and wealth; giving rise to the practice of mindful recollection within the six recollections; giving rise to a straightforward mind within the six points of reverent harmony; giving rise to a pure livelihood by rightly practicing wholesome things; giving rise to closeness with the worthy and the noble through a mind pure and joyful; giving rise to a mind of taming through freedom from hatred toward the wicked; giving rise to a deep mind through the practice of going forth; giving rise to broad learning through practicing exactly as one has heard; giving rise to a place of quiet solitude through the practice of non-contention; giving rise to sitting in meditation through devotion to the Buddha's wisdom; giving rise to the ground of practice by resolving the bonds of beings; giving rise to the karma of merit through perfecting the marks and signs and purifying a buddha-land; giving rise to the karma of understanding by knowing the thoughts of every being and teaching the Dharma accordingly; giving rise to the karma of wisdom by knowing that no phenomenon is to be grasped or rejected and entering the single gate of their one mark; giving rise to every wholesome karma by cutting off every affliction, every obstruction, and everything unwholesome; giving rise to every practice that assists the buddha-path by attaining all-knowing wisdom and every wholesome quality. Just so, good sir — this is a Dharma-giving assembly. If a bodhisattva abides in this Dharma-giving assembly, he is a great giver, and is also a field of merit for the entire world.' World-Honored One, when Vimalakīrti taught this Dharma, two hundred people among the brahmins present gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening. My own mind, at that time, became pure, and I praised it as something never seen before. I bowed my head to Vimalakīrti's feet, and at once took off a necklace of pearls worth a hundred thousand pieces of gold and offered it to him; he would not accept it. I said: 'Householder, please accept it — give it to whomever you wish.' Vimalakīrti then accepted the necklace, and divided it into two parts: one part he gave to the lowliest beggar in the assembly, and the other he offered to the Tathāgata Duṣpradharṣa. The whole assembly then beheld the land of Prabhāvyūha and the Tathāgata Duṣpradharṣa, and saw the pearl necklace, above that buddha, transform into a four-pillared jeweled tower, adorned on every side, each face unobstructed by the others. When Vimalakīrti had shown this spiritual transformation, he said: 'If a giver gives to the lowliest beggar with a mind equal to how the Tathāgata himself regards a field of merit — making no distinction at all, equal in great compassion, seeking no reward in return — this is called complete and perfect Dharma-giving.' The lowliest beggar in the city, seeing this spiritual power and hearing what was said, gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening. This is why I am not able to go and inquire after his illness."
Sengzhao's own summary of the contrast this whole exchange is built on is worth quoting directly: material giving is bound by physical form, and cannot gather everyone at once ("以方會人，不可一息期"); wealth is bound by scarcity, and cannot provide for everyone at once ("以財濟物，不可一時周"). A Dharma-giving assembly is bound by neither — it can, in principle, "gather without limit and hold everything without leaking," reaching every being at once precisely because it operates by cultivating a mind rather than distributing a finite stock of goods. The long list Vimalakīrti gives Sudatta is his working-out of that principle: some three dozen ordinary virtues and practices, each redescribed as itself already an act of universal giving, since cultivating loving-kindness or wisdom or patience does not run out the way material wealth does, and does not require choosing who receives it and who does not.
The closing miracle does not just illustrate the teaching abstractly — it enacts it. Splitting a single necklace between the lowliest beggar in the city and a Tathāgata in a distant buddha-land, and having the assembly see both gifts become, in effect, the same offering, makes visible in a single gesture the exact point the preceding sermon just spent several dozen clauses building toward: that a truly equal regard treats the least and the most exalted recipient of a gift as, in the end, no different at all. This same rhetorical shape — an extended teaching, then a demonstration that makes the teaching literally visible — also closed Part 1's teaching on pure lands, when the Buddha touched the earth to show what Śāriputra could not yet see; it is a device this sūtra returns to more than once.