華嚴經探玄記 2.15

2.15

Third, the excellence of the jewelled seat; in this there are also ten clauses. The first clause is the general one. According to the Dà zhìdù lùn, the Buddha is the lion among humans; wherever the Buddha sits, whether a couch or the ground, is called a 'lion seat' (siṃhāsana), and the place where a king sits is also like this. Furthermore, sitting on this seat he preaches the teaching of the lion's roar of fearlessness; therefore it is also called a lion seat. Below, in the 'Chapter on Transcending the World', among the ten kinds of seats, the lion seat is explained as distinguishing and expounding the profoundly deep meaning. All the above are tatpuruṣa compounds. Or it is also a karmadhāraya compound, because the objective [environment] and the subjective [person] completely interpenetrate. Furthermore, because this seat encompasses the dharmadhātu—all dharmas such as persons, teachings, doctrines, and meanings, as well as those worlds of all Buddhas of the ten directions, deep, vast, and extraordinary—it is therefore said to be inconceivable, which is to say, like a great ocean. Below, nine clauses individually display the inconceivable: First is inconceivable adornment, meaning that its essence gathers all virtues; therefore it says 'various wondrous jewel flowers', and so forth. Second is inconceivable flowing light, meaning that its wondrous function is boundless, ubiquitous like clouds; therefore it says 'flowing light', and so forth. Third is inconceivable containment, meaning that it internally contains an ocean of countless bodhisattvas; therefore it is called a 'storehouse' (garbha). Fourth is inconceivable karmic action of speech, meaning that the great sound vibrates afar, its benefits difficult to measure; therefore it is said to be inconceivable. Moreover, these preceding three clauses, according to what is appropriate, are the functions of the three karmas of body, mind, and speech. Fifth is inconceivable empowerment, meaning that although this seat's flowing light universally illumines, yet the Buddha's light further overshadows it to display its excellence; for the light of a maṇi jewel may shine upon and cover forty yojanas over a cakravartin's palace, but now the Buddha's light universally illumines the dharmadhātu and overshadows this seat, surpassing that measure; therefore it says 'surpassing maṇis', and so forth. Sixth is inconceivable transformation, meaning that its transformative function opens and awakens [beings]; therefore it says 'performing Buddha-work'. Seventh is inconceivable response to capacities, meaning that all those in the ten directions whose faculties are ripe witness it, and one seat universally responds without obstruction. Eighth is inconceivable swiftness, meaning that 'in a single thought-moment' indicates that the time is extremely brief; 'all transformations' indicates that what is manifested is manifold; 'filling the dharmadhātu' indicates that it is extremely deep and vast. In this single thought-moment, to be able to manifest a single transformation would already be rare, let alone manifesting all; to be able in a single thought-moment to manifest all transformations would already be exceedingly rare, let alone each and every manifestation being deep and vast, filling the dharmadhātu. In a single thought-moment, it swiftly raises this boundless great function; in all other thought-moments it is likewise by analogy. Ninth is inconceivable true nature, meaning that because the essence of the tathāgatagarbha is omnipresent, it causes the preceding wondrous functions to be swiftly accomplished without obstruction. Moreover, these preceding four clauses explain the sequential interdependence of this seat's functions: first, what characteristics it has; second, how it responds; third, how it is swift; fourth, through what it is accomplished. One should know that the four clauses in sequence answer these four questions. The next clause is the general conclusion. Because individual explanations are difficult to exhaust, the conclusion says 'immeasurable myriad jewels', and so forth. Because the seat is tall and conspicuous, it is also called a terrace (dais). Question: By what principle is this lion seat called inconceivable? Answer: Since it is called inconceivable, its meanings are indeed endless. Briefly discussing ten kinds: It cannot be conceived as having delimited parts, because it is identical to the dharmadhātu. It cannot be conceived as lacking delimited parts, because it is manifested for the sake of capacities. It cannot be conceived through principle, because it is adorned with the concrete phenomena of jewel flowers. It cannot be conceived through concrete phenomena alone, because its nature is the tathāgatagarbha. It cannot be conceived as the circumstantial retribution, because it is accomplished by bodhisattvas and others. It cannot be conceived as the direct retribution, because it is the Buddha's circumstantial fruition. It cannot be conceived as a person, because it is gathered by the supporting dharma. It cannot be conceived as a dharma, because it possesses the three karmas to serve as function for the person. It cannot be conceived as the fruition, because it possesses all the bodhisattvas of the causal stages. It cannot be conceived as the cause, because it belongs to the Buddha-fruition. These ten meanings above are unobstructed and mutually identical: the one seat is the general characteristic; the ten meanings are the particular characteristics; their all being the meaning of the seat is the common characteristic; the ten meanings not being confused is the distinct characteristic; the fact that due to these ten meanings the phenomenon of the seat arises is the constructive characteristic; each abiding in its own dharma is the destructive characteristic. Question: Since you say that because it is manifested for capacities it is not without measure, we do not know what the extent of its measure is like? Answer: Yet it is also difficult to know, and can only be discerned by analogy. As the 'Chapter on the Bhūmis' states, the measure of the seat of a tenth-bhūmi bodhisattva has a perimeter of the measure of ten asaṃkhyeyas of hundreds of thousands of trichiliocosms. Comparing this measure of the seat to the Tathāgata's seat is like comparing an amount of soil the size of a bean to a trichiliocosm; thus the Tathāgata's seat is extremely difficult to measure. The preceding three sections fully explaining the perfection of the receptacle world are concluded.