Vimalakirti Teaching the Dharma

CHINA; Southern Song dynasty

Although none of the inscriptions on this picture state its origin, it has long been attributed to Li Gonglin due to the exquisitely drawn lines and the existence of several other similar portrayals of Vimalakirti by Li. However, the style is very similar to another picture, a copy of Ma Yunqing’s artwork Vimalakirti and the Doctrine of Nonduality by Wang Zhenpeng now kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA. This leads some scholars to conclude that this artwork was also made by Wang. However, recent scholarship has posited that the copy of Vimalakirti and the Doctrine of Nonduality may not have been drawn by Wang, and suggested that both pictures were copied from a lost original artwork. The thicknesses of the lines are more varied in this drawing, and some believe it is older than the other artwork.
Vimalakirti is shown debating with Manjusri, other Bodhisattvas, and disciples about important aspects of Mahayana Buddhist thought. This debate is described in the Vimalakirti Sutra. An incense burner topped with a small lion divides the scene into two distinct sections. Manjusri sits on the left, and the bearded Vimalakirti is on the right. The Bodhisattva is accompanied by a lion and a small boy. A group of disciples, a Bodhisattva, and a Heavenly King stand behind Vimalakirti. Above the incense burner, a female heavenly being scatters flowers and a frowning Sariputra tries to shake the petals off his robe, a reference to a scene in the sutra in which the scattered flower petals only stick to those who have not abandoned all discriminating thoughts.
On the left side of the artwork, there is a transcription of the Heart Sutra by Chendu of the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), as well as inscriptions by Dong Qichang and Wang Zhideng. The theme of the picture can be traced all the way back to murals painted in caves during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Vimalakirti continued to be a popular subject for illustrations after the Song dynasty.