華嚴經探玄記 4.61

4.61

In the fifth section, on the profundity of the field of merit, first there is the direct objection, and then the refutation of the counter-argument that restates the challenge. The sense of the challenge is: since it was stated above that the Buddha's virtues do not differ, the karmic fruit obtained through provisioning him should not differ either; why then do we now see differences in the retributions received? This is the objection based on the contradiction between conditions and their fruits. Fearing that they might counter by arguing: "Although the Buddha-field is single, if a person makes superior and wonderful offerings to the Buddha, the Buddha gives rise to affectionate thoughts toward this person, and therefore they obtain a superior retribution, whereas the opposite occurs for the wicked"—in order to refute this counter-argument, the text later says that the Tathāgata is impartial, possessing neither enmity nor favoritism; this is the principle of the three applications of mindfulness. In the direct objection, first it adduces the correct doctrine, and then reveals the contradiction. Therein, the first line is general, and the [following] ten lines separately explain the word "dissimilar" in the general statement above: 1. physical appearances being attractive or ugly; 2. among human beings, the four castes, the five gotras, and so forth; 3. being noble but not wealthy, wealthy but not noble, and so on—these four phrases refer to families; 4. the sense faculties such as the eyes being complete or defective, fine or bad, and their faculties being sharp or dull; 5. the generation of wealth, such as gold and grain; 6. for the very same act of giving, some obtain extraordinary material wealth, such as Jyotiṣka's fine cotton cloth into which a nail driven seven inches into the ground could not pierce, and so forth; 7. retinue being good or evil, and so forth; 8. since each humbles oneself in practicing giving, they should equally attain mastery, yet now some obtain mastery over only one person while failing to obtain it elsewhere, each having their own limits and gradations of difference; 9. the quantity of merit being greater or lesser; 10. wisdom being shallow or deep. The refutation of the counter-argument can be understood [from this]. As for why Guṇavaktra answers in the response: it is because he sees this teaching clearly. The intent of the answer is that generally, giving to the Buddha involves two causes: 1. Because the mental attitude of the giver is unequal, it consequently causes the retributions obtained to differ in a thousand ways. As stated in the *Sūtra on the Warm Room*, all is due to the inequality of mental attitude. 2. Because the Buddha's great compassion is inconceivable, it ultimately causes all to attain liberation. The second fascicle of the *Sūtra on Great Compassion* says: "Down to animals that are able to be mindful of the Buddha, all will attain supreme nirvāṇa and exhaust the limits of defilements, not to mention humans and the like." Moreover, it is like the benefits of seeing and hearing [the Buddha] in the "Nature Manifestation" chapter below. Therefore, in the verses, "because of sentient beings there are differences" refers to the first meaning; "capable of burning away all existence" refers to the second meaning. These two are not two, since they share the same retribution, and thus there is no contradiction. Ten similes are cited to demonstrate this: 1. the simile of conditions being able to manifest fruits; 2. the simile of responding to capacities in accordance with understanding; 3. the simile of skillful accord; 4. the simile of responding to resonance to bring joy; 5. the simile of manifesting forms according to beings' resonance; 6. the simile of skillfully eliminating the hindrance of defilements; 7. the simile of completely destroying the hindrance of the knowable; 8. the simile of compassionate sentiment universally covering all; 9. the simile of agitation inducing revulsion, meaning not letting them find firm delight [in saṃsāra]; 10. the simile of burning away completely, meaning causing them to attain nirvāṇa.