This eastern Buddha country is connected with another eastern Buddha country, the Medicine Buddha Glazed Light Buddha Land. The Eastern World and the Western Amitabha Buddha's Elysium are reflected in each other, like day and night in a solar system. When the sun goes down in the west, it reaches the Western Elysium; When the sun came out to give birth to life, it went to the land of the Buddha in the East and the land of the Buddha in the Glass Light in the East. This is one of the great secrets of the Dharma, the true Tantra.

So when you really understand the Dharma, you know that what is clearly told to you in all the sutras of the teachings, if you don't understand it, you become a great tantra. On the contrary, all the methods of tantric practice are very teachable, because if you can study the tantric meaning in depth, you will understand it, and you will be able to understand it. The teachings tell you the true mysteries of the Dharma, and you can't understand it unless you have attained merit and great wisdom.

Therefore, the cause of this lecture is to tell you the great secret of the Dharma, which is truly instantaneous, so that you can practice and study well. Don't think that meditation is learning Buddhism.

The Buddha in the Vimala Sutra is the Buddha of the Oriental Wonderful Joy Nyorai Immovable Land, that is, when I want to talk about the Medicine Sutra, one of the sixteen Buddhas of the Lotus Sutra, even Amitabha Buddha is also the son of the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra. The next part of the Vimala Sutra is the "Dharma Offerings", which mentions that the Medicine King Nyorai wants to become a Buddha beyond the Three Realms, and we must deeply witness the immortality taught by the Medicine King Nyorai, which is neither born nor destroyed. For thousands of years, no one has regarded the Medicine Sutra, the Vimala Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra in Buddhism as secret methods, and only recited them as sutras for teaching.

The most important point in the whole Vimala Sutra is to tell us that the Dharma is in this world, and we are in our own body and mind. If you ask other worlds to depend on others, think about life and death, and think about becoming a Buddha, it is impossible. This is because external forces are only convenient methods, not ultimate methods. Therefore, the Dharma must be self-controlled. Let me give you an example, I have just traveled from India to the East and saw a very good couplet in Wenshu Monastery in Sichuan:

When I saw it, I made it and let it go, so what's the matter

Wisdom is born in consciousness, and consciousness is born in freedom, and life is born without life

Like these, the Buddhist literature, the spirit of Zen, and the sources of spiritual wisdom are closely related to the Vimala Sutra.

The version of the Vimala Sutra was translated by the monk Kumarosh who was invited from the Western Regions during the turbulent period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Chinese history. Originally, Fu Jian, who was in the former Qin, sent troops to invite Kumarosh, but before Kumarosh went to China, Fu Jian's former Qin perished. Later, the Later Qin State, which was established by Yao Xing in the Shaanxi region, sent troops to Kumarosh to come to the Central Plains. In order to invite this scholar, hundreds of thousands of troops were sent to destroy the three small countries in the Western Regions that held Kumarosh, and probably only these barbaric emperors of the Northern and Southern Dynasties of China could do it.

The writing of this sutra is so good that the world cannot help but admire Kumarosh's talent. Of course, several of the outstanding disciples he accepted in China, such as Seng Zhao and Seng Rui, were all first-class literary geniuses, which naturally contributed to the beautiful writing of this scripture. However, most people do not understand or know this Vimala Sutra because they do not have a deep knowledge of Buddhism.

The title of this sutra is "Vimala Sutra", and later there is also a title "The Buddha Says Vimala Sutra", which was added by later generations because of the respect for Shakyamuni Buddha, in fact, the translation of the original sutra does not use the word Buddha to say, but only the sutra said by Vimalaya, because the central Dharma of this sutra is said by Vimalaya. There are also scriptures that translate the title as "Sutra of Incredible Liberation", because the purpose of our study of Buddhism is to liberate ourselves from the Three Realms, jump out of the six realms of reincarnation, and return to our original appearance to become a Buddha.

Sentient beings were originally Buddhas, but they lost their original path, and they didn't know why they were before their parents were born, and they couldn't find this root, so they were reincarnated in the Three Realms and Six Realms. And because of the influence of the material world environment, there are physical and mental troubles and pains, birth, old age, sickness and death, and so on. To practice is to free yourself from the bondage of the material world, to free yourself from the troubles of your body and mind, to go back to the roots of your body and mind, and to be pure in your own nature.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is to seek liberation, but how to achieve liberation? The sutras of Vimalaya tell people that the true Dharma is in our world for liberation.

By the way, the Dharma says that it is inconceivable, which means that one cannot use ordinary consciousness to guess and explain in practice, and one cannot use ordinary intellectual knowledge to discuss and study. You can only practice with one method of faith. Or believe in the Pure Land and recite the Dharma, or believe in the Four Thoughts and Dwellings, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Thirty-Seven Bodhi Paths. In the process of verification, we cannot use the knowledge of the world or habitual consciousness to explain casually, so it is inconceivable, not that it cannot be inconceivable. If it is inconceivable, then this sutra is born of contemplation, isn't it self-contradictory? What is the difference between the inconceivable and the inconceivable, this is the secret of Buddhism, and the Vimala Sutra itself gives you the answer.