華嚴經探玄記 11.4

11.4

First, the name: "Vow" (praṇidhāna) has the sense of aspiring and seeking. The Daśabhūmika-śāstra states: "Giving rise to all great vows means seeking the meaning according to the mind." Next is clarifying specific names: in this treatise, it merely explains the text without clarifying the names; ancient masters established names according to the meaning, some of which were fitting and some not. Now, following the Liang Mahāyānasaṃgraha, ten names are fully listed. It states: (1) the vow of offering, wishing to make offerings to excellent conditions, fields of merit, teachers, and Dharma lords; (2) the vow of receiving and upholding, wishing to receive and uphold the superior, wonderful, and correct Dharma; (3) the vow of turning the dharmacakra, wishing to turn the unprecedented dharmacakra in great assemblies; (4) the vow of practice, wishing to practice all correct practices of the bodhisattva according to what is taught; (5) the vow of maturation, wishing to mature the roots of goodness of the three vehicles of sentient beings in this receptacle world; (6) the vow of serving, wishing to go to all buddha-lands, constantly see all buddhas, always obtain the opportunity to revere and serve them, and hear and receive the correct Dharma; (7) the vow of pure lands, wishing to purify one's own land and establish the correct Dharma and sentient beings capable of practicing; (8) the vow of non-separation, wishing in all places of birth never to be separated from all buddhas and bodhisattvas and to obtain harmonious intention and practice; (9) the vow of benefit, wishing at all times to constantly perform acts of benefiting sentient beings without any being in vain; (10) the vow of samyaksaṃbodhi, wishing to attain unsurpassed bodhi together with all sentient beings and constantly perform the work of buddhas. Explanation: Among these ten, the very first, the vow of offering, is restricted to making offerings to buddhas in this sūtra, while the Mahāyānasaṃgraha extends generally to other excellent conditions, teachers, and so forth. The second is identical. Third, in this sūtra it is requesting the turning of the dharmacakra as the foremost of gathering dharmas, not oneself engaging in the activity of turning the dharmacakra. Fourth, regarding the vow of practice, someone says: This is the vow of knowing the minds of sentient beings; this name is incorrect. The text itself explains that it is cultivating bodhisattva practice, hence it is identical to the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. The fifth, maturation, has the meaning of teaching and transforming, which is identical. Sixth, in this sūtra it is named the vow of knowing worlds, directly and clearly knowing the differences of worlds, which differs from the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Reconciling these two explanations: serving there necessarily involves going to worlds, and knowing worlds here necessarily involves serving buddhas. Alternatively, there is no need to reconcile them; this sūtra is simply taken as definitive, as the ten vows of that treatise originated from this sūtra and there is no text anywhere else. The remaining four vows are completely identical in meaning and can be known.