The Japanese Interpretation of the Fourth Chapter of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-(sūtra). ― The compassion of a true bodhisattva, the cure of sickness and its representation as the new dogma of Japanese syncretistic thought―
Abstract
Among the earliest exegetical writings of Buddhist texts (Sangyō-gisho 三経義疏) introduced for the advent of the Japanese Imperial family ―presumably under the direction of the uncertain figure of the Prince Shōtoku 聖徳 (太子) (574-622 AC) ― the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra (VKN)『維摩経』is classified as possessing the pragmatic wisdom for any kind of ailment. The Japanese interpretation of this text conveyed much more than Indian philosophical thought. The Chinese translators' gloss, and their references in sinograms to the magnificence of the teachings described in this text, cemented not the ideal of the bodhisattva, but the new dogma patented by the wealthy for their own advent, laid the foundations for Japanese syncretism.
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