A Portion From the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra

Vimalakirti Sutra

Thereupon, a certain goddess who lived in that house, having heard this teaching of the Dharma of the great heroic bodhisattvas, and being delighted, pleased, and overjoyed, manifested herself in a material body and showered the great spiritual heroes, the bodhisattvas, and the great disciples with heavenly flowers. When the flowers fell on the bodies of the bodhisattvas, they fell off and onto the floor, but when they fell on the bodies of the great disciples, they stuck to them and did not fall off. The great disciples shook the flowers and even tried to use their magical powers to remove them, but still the flowers would not shake off.

Then the goddess said to Venerable Sariputra, “Reverend Sariputra, why do you shake these flowers?”

Sariputra replied, “Goddess, these flowers are not proper for religious persons and so we are trying to shake them off.”

The goddess replied, “Do not say that, Reverend Sariputra! Why? These flowers are proper indeed! Why? Such flowers have neither compounded thoughts nor discriminating thoughts. But the elder Sariputra has both compounded and discriminating thoughts.

“Reverend Sariputra, impropriety for one who has renounced the world for the discipline of the rightly taught Dharma consists of compounded thought and discrimination, yet the elders are full of such thoughts. One who is without such thoughts is always proper.

“Reverend Sariputra, see how these flowers do not stick to the bodies of the great heroes, the bodhisattvas! This is because they have eliminated both compounded thoughts and discrimination.

“For example, evil spirits have power over fearful men but cannot disturb the fearless. Likewise, those intimidated by fear of the world are in the power of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures, which do not disturb those who are free from fear of the passions inherent in the compounded world. Thus, these flowers stick to the bodies of those who have not eliminated their instincts for the passions and do not stick to the bodies of those who have eliminated their instincts. Therefore, the flowers do not stick to the bodies of these bodhisattvas, who have abandoned all instincts.”

Sariputra asked: “Goddess, what prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?”

The goddess replied: “Although I have sought my ‘female state’ for these twelve years, I have not yet found it. Reverend Sariputra, if a magician were to incarnate a woman by magic, would you ask her, ‘What prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?’”

Sariputra answered: “No! Such a woman would not really exist, so what would there be to transform?”

The goddess said: “Just so, reverend Sariputra, all things do not really exist. Now, would you think, ‘What prevents one whose nature is that of magical incarnation form transforming herself out of her female state’?”

Thereupon the goddess employed her magical powers to cause the elder Sariputra to appear in her form and to cause herself to appear in his form. Then the goddess, transformed into Sariputra, said to Sariputra, transformed into a goddess,

“Reverend Sariputra, what prevents you from transforming yourself out of your female state?”

And Sariputra, transformed into a goddess replied loudly: “I no longer appear in the form of a male! My body has changed into the body of a woman! I do not know what to transform!”

The goddess continued, “If the elder Sariputra could again change out of the female form, then all women could also change out of their female forms. All women appear in the form of women in just the same way as the elder appears in the form of a woman. While they are not women in reality, they appear in the form of women. With this in mind, the Buddha said, ‘In all things, there is neither male nor female.’”

Then, the goddess released her magical power and each returned to their ordinary form. She then said to him,

“Reverend Sariputra, what have you done with your female form?”

Sariputra responded: “I have neither made it nor did I change it.”

The goddess said: “Just so, all things are neither made nor changed, and that they are not made and not changed, that is the teaching of the Buddha.”