大方廣佛華嚴經疏 32.16

32.16

Fifth, within the request doubly praising the persons and the Dharma, that he requests again is to show that their doubts and confusion must be severed—how could one avoid them? Avoiding them without preaching brings many faults. What kind of faults? Failing to achieve all Buddha-dharmas. In the text, first is prose, followed by verses. In the prose are three parts: first, setting forth the request; next, from 'Why is this?' onward, explaining the request; finally, from 'Therefore, O sons of the Buddha' onward, concluding the request. In the explanation are two: first, a direct inquiry and explanation; second, a further inquiry and explanation. In the former, the inquiry first means: Why will they receive the Buddha's protection and thus be able to believe? The explanation states: By the nature of the Dharma, they should receive protection, and because they receive protection, they will surely be able to believe and accept it. In the second, the further inquiry and explanation, there is first the inquiry, then the explanation. The intent of the inquiry is: Why is it that when expounding the ten stages, the Dharma should receive the Buddha's protection? The explanation below intends: The Tathāgata's preaching does not depart from teaching and realization, which are the most essential. Within the text are three parts: namely, the Dharma, the metaphor, and the application. In the Dharma, 'what is practiced initially' refers to practicing in accordance with the āgama. 'Accomplishing all Buddha-dharmas' refers to realized wisdom. This is the fourth reciprocal pairing of cultivation and accomplishment among the nine kinds of teaching and realization. In the second, the metaphor, the letters of the alphabet metaphorize the wisdom of the stages being the root of all dharmas. The treatise says: 'Writing refers to the marks of characters, like the character *sī* having the form of a lion, and so forth.' This means that writing records characters, but is not the actual essence of the characters. Regarding 'the form of a lion', it refers to the character resembling a crouching shape. Some say: it is because when calling a lion, it is *siṃha*; the character's pictographic form is said to resemble the head and tail of a lion, but it does not resemble it at all. As for 'character', the treatise says: '*a*, *ā*, and so forth,' which are the fourteen vowels that are the very essence of the characters; characters are phonemes. 'And so forth' includes the remaining twelve. However, of the fourteen vowels, two vowels do not enter the alphabet, namely the two characters *ṛ* and *ṝ*. 'Numbers' refers to names and phrases, both being counted entities. 'Meanings' refers to having names of two characters or multiple characters, which must use multiple characters to form a phrase; thus they are all counted. 'Speech' refers to spoken language. That all take the alphabet as their root clarifies that the branches rely on the root, metaphorizing that the fruit relies on the cause. That 'the alphabet is ultimate' clarifies that the root can encompass the branches, metaphorizing that the cause leaves nothing unencompassed. The above two explain in the forward order. 'Not the slightest part is separate from the alphabet' conversely confirms the above two. Regarding 'alphabet' (mātṛkā), it refers to the thirty-four characters such as *ka*, *kha*, and so forth; when the former twelve vowels enter these thirty-four characters, then within each character twelve characters are formed. Furthermore, there are conjuncts of two, three, up to six characters, combining consecutively to produce all characters; hence they are called 'mothers' (mātṛkā). The translated text of the treatise calls this the 'First Chapter', because among Sanskrit texts, the Siddham alphabet is at the very beginning. However, in the speech of the Five Indias, tones differ in lightness and heaviness, yet written on palm leaves, the forms of the letters are identical; the script of Brahmā has remained unchanged through thousands of ages, unlike the seal and clerical scripts of this land which change with the times; hence this serves as the mother and is also permanently standardized. In the third part, the application, first, the branches rely on the root is applied; second, 'the ten stages are ultimate' applies the cause leaving nothing unencompassed. Why are these two necessary? If one merely said it is the root, it might not be the branches—just as taking a hundred coins as capital may produce many goods and wealth. Here it clarifies that just as water is the root of the ocean, there is no ocean that is not water. Thus it says 'ultimate and not separate'. Moreover, as for being the root, not only is the cause the root of the fruit, but also the subsequent is the root of the antecedent, because prior to the stages one cultivates the āgama in anticipation of realization, and from the initial mind one contemplates suchness with wisdom. Third, the concluding request is self-evident. Question: If, according to the above meaning, the Buddhas have the power to make them believe, why is it that sentient beings now and in the future also have intentions of slandering that Dharma? Answer: There are two kinds of determinacy that cannot be augmented or overcome: first, determinacy of karmic retribution, because they committed determinate karma in past or present lives; second, determinacy of karmic action, because past evils perfume their minds and violent entanglements arise, making it difficult to instruct them. The former is like the Śākya clan; the latter is like Virūḍhaka.