Concepts

Manjushri: "How does one proceed by the method of correct mindfulness?"
Vimalakirti:"One proceeds on the premise of no birth and no extinction."

Manjushri: "What has no birth, and what has no extinction?"
Vimalakirti: "The not good has no birth, the good has no extinction."

Manjushri: "What is the root of good and not good?"
Vimalakirti: "The body is the root."

Manjushri: "What is the root of the body?"
Vimalakirti: "Desire and greed are root."

Manjushri: "What is the root of desire and greed?"
Vimalakirti: "False and empty distinctions are the root."

Manjushri: "What is the root of false and empty distinctions?"
Vimalakirti: "Topsy-turvy thinking is the root."

Manjushri: "What is the root of topsy-turvy thinking."
Vimalakirti: "Groundless assumptions are the root of topsy-turvy thinking."

Manjushri: "What is the root of groundless assumptions."
Vimalakirti: "What is groundless can have no root. Manjushri, it is on the root of this groundlessness that all other concepts are built up."

---The Vimalakirti Sutra---