Karin Ryuku Roshi takes up the story of Vimalakirti’s meeting with Manjusri:
Once when Vimalakirti was unwell, he was visited by a host of bodhisattvas, including Manjusri, the bodhisattva of transcendent wisdom. Manjusri inquired after Vimalakirti’s health and asked what caused his illness.
Vimalakirti replied, “I am ill because the world is ill. My sickness comes from ignorance and the thirst for existence, and will last as long as does the sickness of living beings. Were all living beings to be free from sickness, I also would not be sick. The bodhisattva loves all living beings as if each were his only child. You ask me whence comes my sickness? The sickness of bodhisattvas comes from great compassion.”
