華嚴經探玄記 3.65

3.65

Third, in 'shapes', in the prose seven kinds are separately listed: the first four and the seventh distinguish shapes according to their phenomenal marks; the two kinds, fifth and sixth, reveal their forms in terms of metaphors. 1. Square like a bushel; 2. round like a pearl; 3. not square, being a shape of four corners; 4. not round, being an octagonal shape; 5. the shape of whirling water; 6. the shape of a flower; 7. the shape of sentient beings, which has two meanings: first, there are worlds resembling the shapes of sentient beings; second, various sentient beings are themselves worlds, as within a body there are eighty thousand families of worms, each having nine hundred million worms, and so forth; these are themselves worlds. According to the text below, these are also the places where Rocana Buddha turns the wheel of Dharma; therefore, the text only speaks of 'sentient being shapes' and does not speak of 'like sentient being shapes', so we know that sentient beings are directly taken as worlds. Each and every category of these shapes pervades the dharmadhātu. In the verses there are seventeen and a half [gāthās], divided into two: the first three properly versify the preceding text; the latter fourteen and a half clarify the virtues and functions of the lands. In the former, the first one versifies the total number above; the next one versifies the specific shapes above, only versifying the first four and omitting the latter three. According to the Dà zhìdù lùn, the maṇi jewel has eight facets, which exemplifies this octagonal shape. The first half of the latter one reveals the differences in causes, and the second half clarifies the characteristics of the fruit. Second, virtues and functions are divided into two: the first six and a half clarify the sovereignty of virtues; from 'a single pore' below, the sovereignty of functions is clarified. In the former, the first three clarify the ability to respond to capacities by revealing the lands in terms of the Buddha: 1. the essence becoming a Dharma-gate; 2. the marks revealing the presence before capacities; 3. the illumination of Rocana's light, which belongs to the Buddha. The latter three and a half, in terms of directly responding to capacities, reveal the formation of differences: 1. the differing minds and karma of capacities induce multiple shapes of lands; 2. the sovereignty of the buddha-lands can manifest differences in accordance with what is induced; 3. although responding to form defilement and purity, the stream of Dharma is uninterrupted; 4. the second half concludes that karma has many gates, and what is induced and manifested is difficult to fathom. In the second, clarifying the sovereignty of lands, there are three: the first four clarify the sovereignty of the dependent and proper; the next two bring forth its cause; the latter two conclude the functions by returning to the host. In the first, the first two manifest lands in a pore, where the Buddha expounds the Dharma for the assemblies—the pore clarifies the proper recompense subsuming the dependent, and the Buddha remains within his own pore; the latter two are the various shaped worlds manifested within dust motes, where the Buddha also turns the revered wheel of Dharma within them—dust motes are the dependent recompense subsuming the proper, and so forth. In the second, bringing forth its cause: through what is this sovereign accommodation and holding attained? 1. Through the sovereign power of the Buddha's vows; 2. through the inconceivable mental karma of sentient beings. In the third, concluding and returning: the first one raises the Buddha within dust motes; the next half raises the lands within dust motes; the lower half properly concludes by returning to the host.