大方廣佛華嚴經疏 12.40

12.40

Second, under "expounding the bodhisattvas'...", citing what they expounded. The text is divided into two: the first ten phrases ask about the cause, and the latter twenty phrases ask about the fruit. Now, for the first, the text has nine phrases. In the past it was said: the phrase on the ninth, the ten patiences, is missing. Furthermore, because the ten faiths do not constitute a station on their own but are the skillful means of the abodes and subsumed within the abodes, they are not separately questioned. Thus the Renwang jing's "Chapter on Teaching and Transforming" says: "The thirty persons in the noble womb of subduing patience: the ten faiths, ten cessations, and ten firm minds"; therefore faith and abode are not separated. Another view states: due to four reasons, faith does not enter the stations: first, advancing and retrogressing are indeterminate; second, mixed cultivation of the ten minds has no fixed stages; third, not yet cultivating vast practices in accord with the dharmadhātu; fourth, not yet attaining the dharmakāya to manifest the Buddha-gotra. Because of this, the ten faiths are not expanded, so that both this assembly and the third assembly answer the questions on the ten abodes. The ten practices are answered in the fourth assembly. The ten pariṇāmanās are answered in the fifth assembly. The ten treasuries are answered in the fourth assembly, because "treasury" has two meanings: first, the meaning of gathering in—gathering all practices to use them for pariṇāmanā, so the answer precedes the pariṇāmanās; second, the meaning of giving birth—giving birth to the realizing wisdom on the stages, so the question is placed after the pariṇāmanās. The ten stages are answered in the sixth assembly. The ten vows are answered within the first stage. The ten samādhis and ten superknowledges are answered in the seventh assembly; each has its own chapter. As for the ten summits, its answer text is not evident, and ancients had many explanations. One says: based on the Fanwang jing, after the ten patiences there is the Dharma gate of the mind ground. This refers to these ten summits; the principle could also be admissible. But that sūtra speaks of eleven locations: at first, there is no assembly at the bodhimaṇḍa, only stating that he just sat on the Thousand Light King throne and expounded the ten world-seas in the Hall of Wondrous Light. Its second, third, and fourth locations and teachings are completely identical with this third, fourth, and fifth assemblies, and the sequence of the ten stages in the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven is also the same. Yet in the Nirmāṇarati Heaven he expounds the ten dhyānas; in the first dhyāna he expounds the ten vajra-minds; in the second dhyāna he expounds the ten vows; in the third dhyāna he expounds the ten patiences; and in the fourth dhyāna, at the Maheśvara Palace, he expounds the Dharma gate of the mind ground expounded by Vairocana Buddha of my original source, the Padmagarbha world; it does not mention reconvening at Universal Light or the sequence of the double-tiered pavilion in the Jetavana. Again, it is difficult to reconcile the differences. Furthermore, here the cause is asked, and later there are still questions on the fruit, so that Buddha's mind ground is rather the later Tathāgata stage and so forth, not the ten summits. Some say: it is answered in the "Chapter on Asamkhyeyas", because based on the Yingluo [jing], equal enlightenment separately has the summit station, as the ultimate end of causal stations. Now in the "Chapter on Asamkhyeyas" the ten great numbers are expounded, the apex among numbers, hence called the ten summits. Although the question there mentions ten, the answer contains many numbers, and contrasted with the samādhis and superknowledges above, they are not of the same kind, so this is untenable. Some say: it is answered in the "Chapter on Life-Span". There, the ten tiers of Buddha lands all have the upper as the summit and apex of the lower, reaching the Buddha land of Bhadraśrī, which is called the ten summits. Also, the Buddha's second name takes these eleven worlds as the foremost, so merely citing these initial and final eleven reveals the number of world life-spans exceeding hundreds of myriads of asaṃkhyeyas. This serves to mark the head, and the head is precisely the summit. Yet there is no separate question there, though it seems to have a little plausibility. But taking these ten realms merely to mark the inquiry cannot be analogized with the ten stages and so on. We now hold that both the new and old Sanskrit texts lack the question on patience, but it is present in the answer; hence we know that those patiences are precisely these summits. "Ten summits" means the ultimate culmination of the causal stations. The ten samādhis and ten superknowledges are all the station of equal enlightenment; the ten patiences dwell after them, so they also receive the name of "summit". In the question, it is named "summit" in terms of the culmination of the station; the answer is based on receptivity to the Dharma gate, sealed with wisdom, hence called "patience". Without reaching the culmination of the station, one does not possess the ten patiences; without the ten patiences, one does not culminate the causal station; the two texts make this even clearer. Therefore, the end of the "Chapter on the Ten Patiences" says: "Penetrating this gate of patience, / accomplishing unobstructed wisdom, / surpassing all the multitudes, / turning the unsurpassed wheel", and so on. Since it speaks of "surpassing", that is precisely the meaning of summit. It is also like the Dharma gates of patience and summit among the four roots of goodness, their meanings being analogous. Otherwise, if there is no separate question for patience, why answer in vain? If one wishes to make it ten, the ten faiths must be missing. Although the ten faiths have not yet formed a station, they also cultivate vast practices in accord with the dharmadhātu, their virtues and functions being extraordinarily superior, answered in a distinct assembly, so there should be a question. If one takes the four chapters from the "Ten Patiences" downward as collectively answering the question on the summits, there is no error in principle, because all are the culmination of equal enlightenment. As for the second twenty phrases, they ask about the fruit accomplished, completely identical with the first assembly. Therein, the first ten phrases clarify the complete fulfillment of inner virtues, and the latter ten phrases clarify the prominent manifestation of essence and marks. Among the first, the Tathāgata's spiritual power was called Buddha-empowerment in the previous assembly, which refers to empowerment by spiritual power. "Spiritual superknowledge" refers to unimpeded external function; "spiritual power" refers to inner competence. In the "Chapter on Leaving the World", each has ten matters, their marks naturally being distinct. "Unobstructed" means that what the Tathāgata does cannot be obstructed. In the text above it was named "none can encompass and grasp" and so forth; the meanings are all identical. Among the latter ten, eloquence is vocal karma, wisdom is mental karma, and supremacy is physical karma. Compared to the previous assembly, only the single phrase on the Buddha's radiance is missing; the rest are as explained before. The answering texts are also as cited before from the expositions in "Manifestation", "Inconceivable", and the "Chapter on the Ocean of Marks". But because the former was a general assembly, it cited this text; the cited text directly answers the present questions, so the speaker ought to cite it again.