This lecture by Sangharakshita presents “The Transcendental Critique of Religion” through an analysis of chapters 3 and 4 of The Vimalakirti Nirdesa, a Mahayana Buddhist sutra.

Core Thesis

Sangharakshita begins with a fundamental paradox: while religion is meant to liberate us and help us become free, it often does the opposite—enslaving and restricting us. This happens because religion becomes treated as an end in itself rather than as a means to spiritual development.

The Need for Freedom

The lecture establishes that once basic needs are met, what humans need most is freedom—freedom to grow in self-awareness, emotional positivity, responsibility, and creativity. We need space to develop “higher and higher levels of being and consciousness.” Religion should facilitate this growth, but historically it has often hindered it.

The Problem with Organized Religion

Using Christianity as his primary example, Sangharakshita argues that organized religion has failed to allow individual freedom of thought and development. Instead of helping people grow, it has often:

• Forced conformity to theological doctrine
• Made people think of themselves as “miserable sinners”
• Treated independence and initiative as sinful
• Turned religious forms, doctrines, institutions, and rules into ends in themselves

The Transcendental Critique

To address this problem, Sangharakshita proposes what he calls “the transcendental critique of religion”—something that constantly reminds us that religion is only a means to the end of individual spiritual development. This critique is found in The Vimalakirti Nirdesa.

The Sutra’s Framework

The lecture analyzes the sutra’s narrative where Vimalakirti, an advanced bodhisattva, lies ill (out of skillful means and compassion). When the Buddha asks his disciples and bodhisattvas to visit Vimalakirti, they all refuse because each has had a previous encounter where Vimalakirti exposed their spiritual limitations.

Key Encounters Analyzed

Sariputra: Criticized for mechanically practicing meditation without true understanding

Mahamoggallana: Exposed for teaching Dharma without being aware of his audience’s actual spiritual needs

Purna: Criticized for teaching mechanically without understanding the spiritual needs of his students—treating teaching as an end in itself rather than a means of helping people develop

Upali: Challenged for treating monastic rules as ends in themselves rather than means to development. Vimalakirti argues there is no such thing as “sin”—only failure to develop, and the solution is to resume development, not worry about abstract concepts of sin

Rahula: Corrected for explaining renunciation in terms of benefits and virtues rather than as a spiritual activity—the development of bodhicitta (commitment to enlightenment)

Ananda: Taught that the Buddha is not to be identified with his physical body but with the Dharmakaya (truth body)—the physical form is a means, not an end

Jagatimdhara: Shown that rejection and asceticism alone are insufficient; emotions and passions must be transformed and redirected toward spiritual life, not merely suppressed

What Vimalakirti Represents

Vimalakirti represents truth or reality itself, the enlightenment experience that reveals the limitations of partial spiritual experiences. When religious forms, doctrines, or practices encounter this truth, their limitations become apparent—often a painful but necessary experience for growth.

The Positive Purpose

The critique is not meant to destroy religion but to restore it to its proper function as a means to spiritual development. It’s essential for religion’s existence and must accompany religious practice constantly.

Practical Application

Sangharakshita advocates applying this critique to all religious forms:

• To Buddhism itself (Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana)
• To one’s own practice (meditation, study, community life)
• To other religions, particularly theistic ones that lack self-critique

The goal is to ensure that religious means remain means and don’t become ends in themselves, allowing religion to truly help us become free rather than more enslaved.

Buddhist Context

The lecture emphasizes that Buddhism has always maintained this self-critical awareness through teachings like the Buddha’s raft parable and Zen’s iconoclastic traditions. This self-awareness has kept Buddhism spiritually alive and non-dogmatic throughout the centuries.

The lecture concludes by encouraging practitioners to become “living embodiments of the reality of religion and the transcendental critique of religion,” ensuring that their spiritual practice serves genuine liberation rather than creating new forms of bondage.