大方廣佛華嚴經疏 31.12

31.12

Next is the proper explanation of the text. If [divided] according to the ten stages, it comprises ten sections. In the initial Pramuditā-bhūmi (Joyous Stage), the text has eight divisions: seven are as explained previously, and the eighth is named the Division of Evaluating Superiority. The scope of the text will become clearly evident below. Now, first is the introductory division. When the commentary sūtra circulated independently, it was complete with the six accomplishments; here, being subsumed within the great work, it lacks faith and hearing, possessing only the remaining four, namely: first, time; second, host; third, place; and fourth, assembly. Although there are four matters, the treatise only speaks of the comparative evaluation of time and place to display superiority. Because this Dharma is superior, it was taught at the initial time and in a superior place. The reason it does not speak of the host and assembly as superior is that host and assembly may exist in other sūtras. If inferred by association, since the host is already the ten bodies and the assembly is ineffable, they also obtain the designation of superiority; hence the treatise includes the word "and so forth." Now, first, "At that time": the superiority of time. Being the initial time, it obtains the name of superiority. Hence the treatise says: "Not long after the Bhagavat attained the Way, in the second seven days." Because the commentary sūtra circulated independently, it specifically marks the second seven [days]. The present sūtra is subsumed within the great work and only says "At that time," which is the time of the first assembly when he had just attained sambodhi. Furthermore, relying on the treatise's explanation, if superiority is indicated by the initial, the first seven [days] were the very first—why did he not teach then? The treatise says: "Because he was contemplating the practice of causes and the practice of conditions." The "causes" are the wisdom capable of teaching; the "conditions" are the capacities of those to be transformed. Wishing to apply the wondrous Dharma he had realized to suit the capacities of sentient beings, it is therefore called "contemplating practice upon practice." Thus the Lotus [Sūtra] says: "The wisdom I have attained is subtle, wondrous, and supreme"—this is contemplating causes; and "Sentient beings' faculties are dull," etc.—this is contemplating conditions. The treatise says: "Originally he attained the Way for the benefit of others; why did he contemplate for seven days without teaching? To display his own enjoyment of the great bliss of the Dharma." The intention of this question is: while dwelling in the dharmakāya stage, having seen that capacities were ready to be transformed, he only then responded by becoming a Buddha; what need was there to contemplate further? Now the intended reply is: it was not that he knew only after contemplating; it was simply to experience the bliss of the Dharma himself. "The great bliss of the Dharma" is the tranquil bliss of the wisdom he had realized. The treatise says: "Why display his own Dharma bliss? To cause sentient beings to increase their love and reverence toward the Tathāgata. Furthermore, he relinquishes such wondrous bliss and out of compassion for sentient beings teaches the Dharma for them. Why did he only engage in the practice of causes and conditions? To display the unshared qualities. That is, exhausting wisdom to its ultimate and illuminating capacities without omission—which none except the one Buddha can match—is called the unshared qualities. Moreover, causes and conditions are also the profound principle realized, which only the Buddha fully exhausts." Second, "Bhagavat": the superiority of the host, the meaning of which is as explained before. Third, from "in Paranirmita-[vaśavartin]" downward: the superiority of the place. The treatise says: "Because the palaces and halls in this place are superior." The palace is the palace of Vaśavartin, superior to the five lower heavens. The hall is composed purely of mani jewels, superior because it is adorned with jewels. The Paranirmita palace indicates that the stage-wisdom accomplishes the work of transformation without intentional mind. The mani gem hall also indicates that compassionate shelter is without intentional mind, while giving rise to inexhaustible functions. If being at the summit of the desire realm indicates superiority, the form realm is even more superior; why was it not taught there? The treatise says: "Because here the fruit is elicited." That is, the capacities that elicit it are here. Moreover, the form realm involves the difficulty of the long-lived heavens and cannot elicit the fruit; those able to elicit the superior fruit must be bodies of the desire realm. Hence the Ghanavyūha explains that the bodhisattvas of the ten stages constantly travel here. The Mahāyāna-samapravāda-sūtra says: "In this place there is the pure land of the reward Buddha; hence it was taught here." If one only considers the eliciting capacities, one loses what is symbolized. Fourth, from "with a great [assembly]" downward: the superiority of the assembly. The text is divided into five: first, distinguishing and determining the types of assembly; second, from "dwelling in all" downward, praising their superior virtues; third, from "their names" downward, listing the names according to their virtues; fourth, from "such" downward, concluding with the fathomless number; fifth, from "Vajragarbha" downward, identifying the master of the teaching. Now the first also has three: 1. Distinguishing the great from the small, because they are equally bodhisattvas. 2. From "all those" downward, distinguishing the venerable from the lowly, meaning that from the eighth stage onward, they do not retrogress in thought. The Maitreya-paripṛcchā says: "When one's own station is firm, it is called non-retrogression; when progressive advancement is indestructible, it is called non-turning." If based on the commentary sūtra, it also says: "All obtain unsurpassed bodhi in a single lifetime"; then all are equal enlightenment, and equal enlightenment also shares non-retrogression in thought. Furthermore, the Benevolent King Sūtra states: "In one lifetime one correctly attains the lower forbearance of cessation." It is called non-retrogression because one does not retrogress again into the forbearance of the non-arising of phenomena. Although the explicit text is so, the root and trace are difficult to measure, for many are transformations of the Buddhas. 3. From "all arrived from" downward, distinguishing the new from the old, because they gathered from other directions. In the second part, praising their virtues, there are twenty phrases: the first two briefly explain; the last two summarize; and the middle ones extensively praise. Now, in the first brief explanation, the first phrase shows the fulfillment of practice in one's own station: the wisdom of the non-obstruction of the provisional and real abides in the realm where the real and conventional are mutually merged; realm and wisdom are as one, abiding without abiding. The latter phrase shows the fulfillment of progressive practice: realizing what the Buddhas realize, they are thus the Tathāgata, yet diligently practicing without resting; hence they are named bodhisattvas.