The Dharma-Door of Nonduality.
Then, the Licchavi Vimalakirti asked those bodhisattvas, “Good sirs, please explain how the bodhisattvas enter the Dharma-door of nonduality!”
Thereupon, thirty-one bodhisattvas expressed their views on nonduality. I quote three of these expressions as examples:
The bodhisattva Srigandha declared, ‘I’ and ‘mine’ are two. If there is no presumption of a self, there will be no possessiveness. Thus, the absence of presumption is the entrance into nonduality.’…
The bodhisattva Tisya declared, ‘Good’ and ‘evil’ are two. Seeking neither good nor evil, the understanding of the nonduality of the significant and the meaningless is the entrance into nonduality…
The bodhisattva Suddhadhimukti declared, ‘ To say, ‘This is happiness’ and ;That is misery’ is dualism. One who is free of all calculations, through the extreme purity of gnosis – his mind is aloof, like empty space; and thus he enters into nonduality.’
And near the end we read:
When the bodhisattvas had given their explanations, they all addressed the crown prince Manjusri: “Manjusri, what is the bodhisattva’s entrance into nonduality?”
Manjusri replied. “Good sir, you have all spoken well. Nevertheless, all your explanations are themselves dualistic. To know no one teaching, to express nothing, to say nothing, to explain nothing, to express nothing, to indicate nothing, and to designate nothing – that is the entrance into nonduality.”
Then the crown prince Manjusri said to the Licchavi Vimalakirti, “We have all given our own teachings, noble sir. Now, may you elucidate the teaching of the entrance into the principle of nonduality!”
Thereupon, the Licchavi Vimalakirti kept his silence, saying nothing at all.
The crown prince Manjusri applauded the Licchavi Vimalakirti: “Excellent! Excellent, noble sir! This is indeed the entrance into the nonduality of the bodhisattvas. Here there is no use for syllables, sounds, and ideas.”
