Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The Path and the Buddha

2. The Bodhisattva Ideal

3. Self-overcoming

4. Practicing Meditation

5. Embodied Wisdom

6. Skill-in-Means

7. The Goddess of Freedom

8. The Dharma of Nonduality

Conclusion

About the Author

Dale S. Wright is the Gamble Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Studies, Emeritus, at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Buddhism: What Everyone Needs to Know ® and The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character.

Reviews

Wright presents Buddhism as flexible and inclusive living teaching, being malleable in time and space. His particular interpretation of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa as a manual for a practical philosophy of life gives us a fresh reading of this ancient classic text.
*Huỳnh Cao Nhựt Quang, Religious Studies Review*

Living Skillfully is clearly and cogently written, deeply informed by knowledge of Buddhist thought and practice, and animated by sincere commitment to the value of these. In a variety of ways, he shows us the importance of the VS for the contemporary world.
*Christopher W. Gowans, Fordham University, Journal of Buddhist Ethics*

Dale Wright' Living Skillfully is a bright gem, totally on its own, with lots of eloquent and practical advice on how to live well—better than well, winning both spiritual and practical success. It is even more enjoyable with the astonishing bonus that it bounces with great insight and commitment off one of the world's great manuals on how to live skillfully, the Teaching of Vimalakīrti, an ancient Indian classic on how to make your life a masterpiece 'work of art!' Enjoy this book, and it will give you lasting comfort by your bedside!
*Robert Thurman, Columbia University*

The Buddhist path has often been understood as a way to transcend this world, but the Vimalakīrti Sutra teaches how to live wisely in it. Living Skillfully skillfully brings those teachings alive for us today.
*David Loy, author of Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis*

The Vimalakīrti Sutra is one of the greatest — and most amusing — religious texts of all time. Centered on the exemplary character and insight of the wealthy and uncanny layman Vimalakirti, who transcends all dualities, remaining fully engaged, while unencumbered, in the world, this text couldn't be more relevant for our time. As we have by now come to expect, Dale Wright expounds the text with probing precision and practical insight, reading the ancient words both on their own terms, and in ours. This book is essential reading for all contemporary spiritual practitioners — of any tradition.
*Norman Fischer, author of Nature, and When You Greet Me I Bow: Notes and Reflections From a Life in Zen*

Readers will genuinely enjoy and greatly benefit from the accessible yet penetrating and ever thought-provoking style of the current book, which will be useful for many courses on Buddhist or comparative philosophy of religion and also appeal to readers interested in the moral implications and contemporary significance of traditional mystical thought East and West.
*Journal of Religion*

Readers will genuinely enjoy and greatly benefit from the accessible yet penetrating and ever thought-provoking style of the current book, which will be useful for many courses on Buddhist or comparative philosophy of religion and also appeal to readers interested in the moral implications and contemporary significance of traditional mystical thought East and West.
*Steven Heine, The Journal of Religion*