大方廣佛華嚴經搜玄分齊通智方軌 3.8.3

3.8.3

Furthermore, when the Treatise says, “There are those that are determined not to be in the present, those that are determined to be in the present, etc.,” this means the two determinations of realization and teaching, not the determination of present desire. Furthermore, the word “wisdom” (慧) in the first line corresponds to “awakening” (覺) in the Treatise. The word “flaw” (瑕) in the fourth line is precisely “disinclination” (不欲) in the Treatise. The word “defilement” (穢) is precisely the “turbidity of deportment” in the Treatise. “Real” (實) precisely removes the “divergent notions” in the Treatise. The rest can be understood by analogy.

Regarding the second request, there are two parts: first, Vajragarbha avails himself of the preceding request to make clear his intention to remain silent; second, Mukticandra avails himself of [Vajragarbha’s] words to repeat the request.

The first section has two parts: first, the prose, which gives rise to the intention of the subsequent explanation; second, the verse exposition. There are six verses: the first two verses clarify that the Dharma is difficult to preach; the next two verses demonstrate that the Dharma is difficult to hear; the next one verse uses a simile for the difficulty of preaching and hearing; the last verse adduces the difficulty to conclude with silence. Furthermore, regarding the meaning of the text of the simile: space illustrates the essence of the bhūmi of realization; drawing in the wind illustrates the words and phrases of the verbal teaching; the dwelling place of the drawing in the wind illustrates the distinct ten bhūmis that are preached. Question: How does this differ from the simile below? Answer: Below, the tracks of a bird are taken as a simile to illustrate realization. Here, preaching is compared to the drawing of a moving brush and the fluttering wind; taking these as a simile illustrates preaching. Thus there is this distinction between the two. Moreover, this drawing and the bird’s tracks, together with the simile of the Siddhaṃ syllabary below and the “Samantabhadra Chapter” below, altogether belong to one category: these use words to reveal the ten bhūmis of realization; below, the tracks of a bird and so forth use non-verbal means to reveal the ten bhūmis of realization, because he had promised to preach the names of the ten bhūmis. This can also be understood by analogy. Therefore, the general name of the ten bhūmis may also be the name of the mature teaching of the three vehicles.

In the first two verses, the Dharma has four tiers: 1. generally raising the difficulty of the Dharma; 2. “supreme,” etc., revealing the characteristics of its difficulty; 3. the bodhisattva practices presenting the essence of the difficult Dharma; 4. from “subtle and difficult to see” downward, demonstrating the reason for the difficulty. This can be understood and grasped by consulting the Treatise and the sūtra.

In the second section, where Mukticandra avails himself [of the words] to make the request, there are two parts: first, the prose; next, the verses. The prose has three parts: 1. Mukticandra, hearing the refusal, repeats the request; 2. from “this great assembly of bodhisattvas is upright of mind and pure” downward, extensively praising the purity of the assembly; 3. from “therefore” downward, concluding the request by asking him to preach.

In the second part, extensively praising the purity of the assembly, there is first a general statement and then the particulars. Within the purity of the āgama, the second line in the particular sūtra text corresponds to the fourth line in the Treatise, and the fifth line in the sūtra corresponds to the second line in the Treatise; this may also be determined according to the text, yet requires careful consideration.

Within the second part, the verses, there are two parts: first, the prose introduction; second, the verses. In the verses, the first one verse summarizes the concluding request above; the next one verse summarizes the request text above.

In the third request, first Vajragarbha adduces the harm to refuse, and afterwards Mukticandra praises the benefit to repeat the request.

The first section is divided into two parts: first, the prose; next, the verses. The first section has two parts: 1. accepting the previous praise, adducing gain along with loss; 2. from “the rest who delight in the lesser” downward, selecting those not praised and adducing harm to refuse. This text has three parts: 1. the harm of ruining good roots; 2. from “these people” downward, the harm of long enduring decline and affliction and losing joy; 3. from “I have pity” downward, concluding with the reason for silence. Second, the verses: first, clarifying the intention of preaching; second, the actual verses. This text has two parts: first, one and a half lines summarizing and referring to the preceding text; next, one and a half verses concluding the above demonstration of loss.

In the second part, Mukticandra’s request, there are first the prose and next the verses. The prose has three parts: 1. declaring his own mind to show the desire to repeat the request; 2. from “we pray that, relying on the Buddha’s power” downward, properly requesting him to preach; 3. from “therefore” downward, concluding the request by asking him to preach. The first section is clear. In the second part, the proper request, there are two parts: first, establishing the thesis to request the preaching of the inconceivable Dharma; second, from “protected and remembered by the Buddha” downward, explaining that all Buddha-dharmas should be protected and remembered. This text has four parts: 1. protection, which has three aspects that are clear; 2. from “what is the reason?” downward, explaining the vital supremacy; 3. from “just as” downward, using a simile; 4. from “in this way, sons of the Buddha” downward, applying the simile to the Dharma.

Second, the verses have five parts: first, half a verse summarizes the request to preach; second, one verse summarizes the first protection above; next, one verse summarizes the second vital supremacy; next, half a verse is the simile; next, half a verse is the fourth application of the simile.

Second, the request by the great assembly: above, Mukticandra requested first on behalf of the assembly; although his request said the assembly was capable, it was not yet known whether this was true or false, so the great assembly had to manifest their own capacity to fulfill the previous request's words. Moreover, to initiate the preaching and show respect for the Dharma, they make a joint request below. The request text has two parts: first, the simultaneous introduction; second, the actual verses. The verses have five and a half lines: the first four and a half lines praise the persons to make the request; the last one praises the Dharma.

In the first section, the first two praise the speaker, and the latter two and a half praise the assembly’s capacity to hear. In the first part, there are five lines praising Vajragarbha’s own accomplishment of the power of realization and the power of āgama; the lower three lines praise Vajragarbha’s ability to cause the listeners to enter realization and āgama. The first text has two parts: 1. four lines praising the accomplishment of the power of realization; next, one line praising the accomplishment of āgama. In praising the listeners, the first verse and a half has the great assembly praise themselves as possessing the virtues of wisdom and eradication and having prior faculties; the next one verse praises their capacity to reflect and maintain.

In the third section, the request through the Buddha’s empowerment: although the bodhisattva assembly has made the request above, their stimulus was slight and could not reveal the Dharma to the utmost, so next comes the Buddha’s request. Moreover, the bodhisattvas’ request does not show the Dharma to be supreme, which is why the request through the Buddha’s empowerment is required. This text has two parts: first, clarifying the bodily empowerment; next, clarifying the vocal empowerment.

Regarding the bodily empowerment, the sūtra has five aspects: 1. Śākyamuni emits light universally illuminating the ten directions; 2. the buddhas of the ten directions emit light illuminating this place; 3. this assembly traces the light to see those places; 4. those assemblies trace the light to see this place; 5. from the platform of light, verses are spoken. The verses spoken from the platform of light should belong to vocal empowerment; why are they here? While the sound emitted is subsumed under vocal empowerment, what is taken here is the action that produces the sound, so it is classified under the bodily. If one relies on the sūtra text, it lacks both “this [assembly] seeing that” and “that [assembly] seeing this”; both are absent. Furthermore, the sūtra omits the fifth, the action of subduing. Moreover, this light reveals the scope of the Buddha’s power and empowers the speaker, not for gathering the assembly, etc. The rest of the text is as in the Treatise.

Regarding the second part, the vocal empowerment, there are two parts: first, the prose introduction; second, the verses. In the verses, there are seven and a half verses, which contain two parts: 1. distinguishing between instruction and request—the first six verses are the request to preach, and the last one and a half verses are the instruction to preach. The request reveals the supremacy of the Dharma to cause people to venerate it; the instruction shows that the preaching is true to cause the assembly to have deep faith. 2. Distinguishing between empowerment and request. Within these first six verses, there are three parts: first, one and a half verses are the proper empowerment; second, one verse is the purpose of the empowerment; third, three and a half verses demonstrate the acquisition of benefit. This text has three parts: first, one [verse on] the benefit of hearing; next, half a verse on the benefit at the time of practice; next, two [verses on] the benefit in future rebirths. Furthermore, in this text on future rebirths, the verses are compressed and difficult to explain.