花嚴經文義綱目 1.4

1.4

Now, as for the vast and boundless ocean of nature, how could conditions and phenomena fathom its source? In the profound and subtle mysterious path, names and words rarely trace its bounds. There is an all-merging, perfect wisdom that illuminates the great night and opens up the layered darkness; there is an infinite great compassion that looks down upon the multitude of capacities and approaches the myriad lands. Thereupon, the formless manifests form, like the great sun rising from Yanggu; the wordless indicates words, like the blue waves pouring into the great abyss. Therefore, it was first in the Padmagarbha-lokadhātu that the inexhaustible mysterious outline was expounded, gathering the stream of the exalted and leading beyond the sacred ford. Thereafter, its transformation moistened the Sahā realm, gradually spreading the clouds of compassion, showering gentle moisture to enrich the three faculties, and nourishing the sprouts of the Path to return them to a single standard. From this it is known that as the conditions of capacities are differently receptive, the holy responses are accordingly differentiated; yet though the holy responses are distinct, the inconceivable is one. As for the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, it is the magnificent discourse gathered in the ocean-like assembly, the ultimate teaching illuminating the king of mountains; its principle is grand and far-reaching, exhausting the dharmadhātu and spanning the true source; its vast, subtle words equal empty space and cover the dust-mote lands. Thereupon, without diminishing the great or the small, the immense lands are concealed within the tip of a hair; without altering the vast or the fine, the infinitesimal particles merge to pervade the empty realm. Therefore, the Indra's net interweaves its reflections layer upon layer; the candrakānta crystal reflects the dust-mote directions dimly and deeply. The one is identical to the many without obstruction; the many are identical to the one, thoroughly complete. It gathers nine periods of time into a single kṣaṇa, and unfolds a single thought to encompass eternal kalpas. The three lives reach their conclusion, with the adamantine seed serving as the cause; the ten faiths become fully rounded on the Path, with the universal virtues revealed as the result. The result is no result distinct from the cause, branching out into five stages to diverge their courses; the cause is no cause distinct from the result, uniting the ten bodies to arrive together. Therefore, the Mother of Enlightenment approached the receptive capacities in the Eastern City, where the six thousand opened their ten eyes; the Youth inquired of spiritual friends in the Southern Land, achieving in one life what takes one hundred and ten stages. Consequently, without rising from the king of trees, he reached the six heavens; without departing from the Padmagarbha, the ten lands were transparently merged. Displaying precious verses within the dust motes, the eight assemblies shone with equal radiance; uncovering the jade jewel within natural virtue, the seven locations were fully manifested. Resounding and majestic, it towers far beyond thought and discourse; grand and brilliant, it remains shut off from the sight and hearing of the deaf and blind. Therefore, Rocana first formed and fashioned it in the sāgara-mudrā[-samādhi], arising on the morning of the second seventh day; Nāgārjuna at last looked down to inspect it in the dragon palace, and only after six hundred years was it made manifest. Now then, "great" (mahā) has the meaning of all-encompassing; "correct" (vaipulya) has the efficacy of serving as a model; "broad" is the ultimate nature whose function is pervasive; "Buddha" is the one whose fruit is round and enlightenment is complete; "flower" (avataṃsaka) exemplifies the unfolding of the myriad practices; "adornment" illustrates the decoration of this fundamental essence; and "sūtra" refers to stringing together and stitching, whereby the teaching that can express it becomes prominent. Drawing from the Dharma to approach the person, and employing metaphors as its title, it is thus named the Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra.