ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE VIMALAKIRTI NIRDESA SUTRA ON WANG WEI’S POETRY

Abstract

Wang Wei (699–759), an outstanding poet of the Tang period, was brought up in a Buddhist environment from a young age and remained a follower of Buddhist teachings throughout his life. Being a layman who chose the civil service career, he was acquainted and communicated with monks of different schools of Buddhism. He knew well canonical Mahayana scriptures that, clearly, had a certain impact on the poet’s worldview and works, and in many ways became his source of inspiration. One of these scriptures was undoubtedly the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra (English: The Sutra of The Teaching of Vimalakirti; Chinese: Weimojie suo shuo jing, 維摩詰所說經). In this paper, the author, through the analysis of a number of Wang Wei’s works, makes an attempt to identify the impact of the conceptual component of the sutra on the poet’s worldview, which is transmitted in the themes and interpretations of his poems.