Buddhism emerged from India, and most of the imagery based on Buddhist scriptures has its origins in India. However, in a few cases, the imagery was created in China by Chinese artists on the basis of content in Buddhist scriptures. One such case is the imagery of Vimalakīrti. In the early Eastern Jin dynasty, Gu Kaizhi created an image of Vimalakīrti manifesting illness. Over subsequent periods, Vimalakīrti went from being a noble man appearing to be ill, to a powerful and eloquent debater, and then finally becoming a Confucian scholar with a refined appearance. In terms of the figures included, early images portrayed only Vimalakīrti, and then Vimalakīrti having a dialogue with Mañjuśrī, and finally the scenes portrayed Vimalakīrti surrounded by a large audience including kings as well as people from every other social class. In the present article, the first section summarizes the author's previous work on Vimalakīrti imagery prior to the late Tang. The second section focuses on Vimalakīrti imagery from the Song and Yuan dynasties. Several extant images held at various museums are presented as examples and analyzed. The final section discusses Vimalakīrti imagery comprised of carved line drawings and sculptures found in southwestern China, including areas such as Sichuan and Dali. In this way it is possible to see the historical developments and regional features in Vimalakīrti imagery from areas including the north, the lower Yangtze region, and the southwest, over a period covering the ninth to thirteenth centuries.
