大方廣佛華嚴經疏 1.2

1.2

Going and returning without boundary, movement and stillness sharing one source; containing the multitude of marvels with plenty to spare, transcending words and thoughts to stand far apart—surely this is only the dharmadhātu! Dissecting the profound and subtle, illuminating and broadening mind and object; plumbing noumenon and exhausting nature, thoroughly penetrating the fruit and subsuming the cause; vast, oceanic, and harmoniously blended, fully equipped with boundless greatness—surely this is only the Buddhāvataṃsaka-mahāvaipulya-sūtra! / Thus our Bhagavat has just brought the ten bodies to fullness and just attained sambodhi. Riding upon vows and practices to envelop all, merging with empty space to serve as his essential nature; richly endowed with myriad virtues, swept utterly clean of even a speck of dust. The clear waves of the ocean of wisdom are placid, emptily embracing the myriad phenomena; the full moon of the emptiness of nature shines bright, suddenly mirrored across a hundred rivers. Without rising from beneath the king of trees, he arrays the seven locations throughout the dharmadhātu; without departing from the future end, he unfolds the nine assemblies at the moment of initial attainment. Exhausting the profound tenets of immense vastness, he covers the ocean-like assemblies beyond contemplation. The perfect voice rings out, encompassing the ten kṣetras in sudden completeness; host and companions are multiple and layered, reaching the ends of the ten directions to chant in unison. / Although utterly empty without trace, the starry forms in the heaven of meaning shine brilliantly; although serene and beyond words, the billowing waves of the ocean of teaching surge boundlessly. Furthermore, its thousand portals flow in secret, serving as the mighty source for all scriptures; its myriad virtues return together, gathering all sūtras as their retinue. / As for its fundamental purport: it merges the true essence within the realm of the myriad transformations, and manifests the marks of virtue at the gate of double mystery. Functions arise profusely yet remain ever as such; wisdom contemplates all-pervasively yet remains constantly tranquil. The true and the false mutually penetrate, seeing the Buddha-mind right within the ordinary mind; noumenon and phenomena are cultivated together, seeking the Buddha's wisdom relying on fundamental wisdom. / Noumenon adapts to the changes of phenomena, whereupon the pratītyasamutpāda of one and many is boundless; phenomena obtain the interpenetration of noumenon, whereupon a thousand differences interpenetrate without obstruction. Therefore the ten bodies are distinct yet mutually operate, and the six stations are unconfused yet mutually subsumed. The vastly great immediately enters into the spaceless, and dust motes and pores contain all without any remainder outside. Brilliantly appearing simultaneously like mustard seeds in a bottle, fully endowed at the same moment like drops in the ocean. The one and the many are unobstructed, like a thousand lamps in an empty room; the hidden and the manifest are both established, like a sliver of the moon in an autumn sky. Layer upon layer mutually reflecting, like the hanging jewels of Indra's net; thought-moment after thought-moment in perfect interpenetration, like traversing a lifetime in an evening dream. Dharma-gates stack upon each other like clouds rising in the vast sky; myriad practices burst into bloom like flowers opening upon brocade. / As for its height being beyond looking up to: bodhisattvas of accumulated practice would dry their gills and scales at the Dragon Gate; as for its depth being unfathomable: śrāvakas of superior virtue close their eyes and ears in the splendid assembly. Seeing and hearing serve as the seed, allowing those in the eight difficulties to surpass the rungs of the ten stages; understanding and practice embodied in oneself, in a single lifetime one fulfills the fruit of vast kalpas. When the lion shakes its mane, the ocean of assemblies suddenly attains awakening in the forest; when the elephant king turns back, the six thousand achieve the path at his words. Awakening in the Eastern Shrine, wisdom's fullness does not differ from the initial thought-moment; entrusting stages to the southern quest, the completion of the cause does not exceed a single pore. Unfolding the scripture in a paramāṇu, in every thought-moment the fruit is accomplished; exhausting the vow-portals for sentient beings, in every single particle of dust practice is fulfilled. / Truly it may be called the marvelous discourse of eternity, the vast rule of universal efficacy, the ultimate discussion that accords with nature, and the essential track of the Ekayāna. Examining this profound purport and then looking at other scriptures, it is like the bright sun adorning the sky, outshining the brilliance of all other celestial lights; or like Mount Sumeru straddling the ocean, humbling the height of all mountain peaks. Therefore bodhisattvas searched for its secrets in the Dragon Palace, and great sages promulgated it in the Eastern Realm. Reflecting on how even during the era of the True Dharma its pure radiance was still hidden, how fortunate we are in the degenerate semblance age to encounter this profound transformation! How much more so to meet