Vimalakirti

Vimalakirti (Tib. དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པ་; Wyl. dri med grags pa) was a wealthy householder, a layman, a disciple and patron of Buddha Shakyamuni, and the central figure in the Vimalakirti Sutra. Through his transcendent wisdom, in a dramatic and sometimes humorous dialogue with the Buddha’s disciples, he expounded the doctrine of shunyata, or emptiness, to both arhats and bodhisattvas.