Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra: Form Śūnyatā to Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu's Emptiness

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the Śunatā Dhamma, which inspired Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu's understanding of emptiness, in the Vimolkiet Nittasut Sūtra. Due to the author's assumption the Buddhadasa Bhikkhu held the same perspective on emptiness as the Principle in the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, this essay attempts to examine how the Śunatā in the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra inspired the Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu and was probably responsible for these ideas being applied to Theravada Buddhism's consideration of Buddhadharma. The results of the study demonstrated that the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra and the Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu's teaching on emptiness both contain the teachings of Śunatā and Tathatā. It can be claimed that the Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu used the concepts of Śunatā and tathatā in the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra to holistically describe the Theravada Buddhist teachings by defining the term Śunatā as emptiness and the Tathatā as state of being such. Although the two sides' teachings came from different sects, it nonetheless upholds the ideal objective of achieving release from all suffering.