Sangharakshita begins by situating Chapter 10 of the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa in the broader cosmological frame of Buddha lands—pure and impure. The chapter introduces us to the Fragrant Land (Sarvagandhasugandha) presided over by the Buddha Sugandhakūṭa (“Heap of Perfume”). Everything there—palaces, parks, even food—is made of fragrance, which serves as the mode of communication and spiritual influence.
- Sariputra’s anxiety about food sets the scene. Vimalakīrti gently rebukes him, reminding him of the Buddha’s Eight Liberations and conjuring the vision of the Fragrant Land.
- An emanated Bodhisattva is sent to request food, returning with a perfumed bowl of rice and nine million visiting Bodhisattvas. This food, perfumed with great compassion, satisfies all beings without depletion and fills the cosmos with fragrance.
- Vimalakīrti contrasts Sugandhakūṭa’s way of teaching—through perfume—with Śākyamuni’s way—through words, strong admonitions, and images of suffering suited to the stubborn beings of our saha world.
Sangharakshita highlights three themes:
- Perfume as sense experience and symbol
- Smell is subtle: invisible particles carried to the nose.
- Perfume symbolizes the subtle, pervasive influence of ultimate reality and compassion. Like a fragrance, enlightenment permeates existence.
- Perfuming of conditioned and unconditioned
- Drawing on Awakening of Faith, Sangharakshita notes that ultimate reality “perfumes” conditioned existence, while conditioned existence also “perfumes” ultimate reality, eliciting compassion. This reciprocal relationship is profound—ultimate and relative are not separate.
- Perfume as communication
- Beyond words, communication occurs through non-verbal means: smell, silence, light, even presence.
- Ordinary human communication also includes tone, gesture, atmosphere—layers often lost in written text.
- Thus, the chapter challenges us to expand our senses and find new ways of expressing and receiving meaning.
He closes with a call: “It is important that we acquire new senses and new means of communication … that we enlarge the total range of our being and consciousness.”
✨ Commentary & Resonances with Chapter 10
- The contrast between fragrance and harsh words reflects the paradox of spiritual life: some beings are reached through subtle influence, others through sharp challenge. Both are “skillful means.”
- The inexhaustible rice resonates with the inexhaustibility of compassion itself—once tapped, it nourishes endlessly. This parallels Buddhist teachings on generosity (dāna) as non-depleting.
- The Fragrant Land as a Pure Land of influence suggests that communication itself can be a field of practice. Just as fragrance spreads invisibly, our actions, moods, and thoughts radiate influence beyond what words capture.
🪞 Reflections on the Study Questions
- “A disciplined life gives strength.”
- Discipline aligns our energies, preventing the scattering that weakens us. The rice of compassion is inexhaustible because it comes from such strength of practice.
- Middle way between authoritarianism and individualism.
- Many of us incline toward one pole—submitting to authority or insisting on autonomy. The middle way lies in participatory communication: receiving influence (like fragrance) without losing individuality.
- Symbolism of fragrance.
- Fragrance communicates without words, shaping mind and body subtly. It symbolizes influence, atmosphere, and the unseen bonds of compassion.
- Significance of Sarvagandhasugandha.
- A land where fragrance replaces language suggests a realm of direct resonance, beyond conceptual mediation. It points to a future mode of human communication: subtler, less ego-based, more immediate.
- Non-verbal communication in our lives.
- A smile, presence, tone, or even silence can carry more than words. Sometimes the “perfume” of another’s being influences us profoundly without explanation.
- Perfuming of conditioned and unconditioned.
- Ultimate reality permeates samsara with hints of liberation; samsara, in turn, evokes compassion from the awakened. This reciprocity is central to Mahayana thought.
- Acquiring new senses and means of communication.
- Meditation cultivates inner receptivity, refining perception beyond the ordinary. Practically, we can expand our “languages”: art, ritual, silence, atmosphere, kindness—all are modes of Dharma communication.
✅ So, this chapter and lecture remind us that communication is not only verbal but existential. What we are radiates—like fragrance—into the world. The practice is to refine what we radiate, and to attune ourselves to the subtle perfumes of reality itself.