大方廣佛華嚴經疏 47.7

47.7

Now, for this first chapter, there is first the question and then the answer. The question has two parts: first, repeating what the Buddha said, and second, from "Bhagavat" onward, directly presenting the inquiry. As for the first: the reason Mind King poses the question is to express that numbers are not apart from the mind, and that mind has mastery over both number and non-number. It also shows that this number synthesizes the preceding and the following, establishing its transcendence. The reason he specifically asks about ten is to cite the latter to subsume the former, revealing inexhaustibility. This is frequently used throughout the text before and after; thus the text says "the Tathāgata expounds," and simply asking about the root number already subsumes all the successive powers. Second, from "The Buddha told" onward is the answer. It has four parts: 1. Praising the question and completing the benefit. Causing them to enter the numbers known to the Buddha is because, as what is explained in the Perfect Teaching is profound, vast, and boundless, only the Buddha can fathom it, unlike what is known by ordinary beings and the Hīnayāna. For example, the Yellow Emperor's methods of calculation have only twenty-three numbers, beginning from one and two and ending at zheng and zai, which are already said to be unable to be contained by heaven and earth. The Hīnayāna's sixty numbers already reach "incalculable." Here there are one hundred and twenty-four, doubling with each succession; hence they cannot be fathomed by others, and the culmination of the numbers is lodged in the ineffable. How much more so when the beginning of the verses further accumulates the ineffable, traversing all dust-mote kṣetras to reveal inexhaustibility! The reason the Buddha answers himself directly expresses inconceivability. It also clarifies that this chapter collectively speaks of the ultimate virtue of the causal stage; hence the Buddha speaks it. 2. From "Good son" onward, admonishing him to listen and consenting to explain. 3. From "At that time Mind King" onward, respectfully receiving the honored command. 4. From "The Buddha said" onward, directly answering what was doubted. Within this are two parts: first, the prose clarifies the vast multiplicity of the counting numbers; later, the verses reveal the inexhaustibility of the virtues counted. First, as for the former: the question cites the latter as difficult to know, while the answer explains completely from beginning to end. Initially stating that one hundred lakṣas make one koṭi is the medium calculation. A lakṣa is ten thousand, and a koṭi is a hundred thousand; thus the "Chapter on Awakening through Light" says "surpassing one hundred thousand," for the Sanskrit text in all cases says koṭi. If following the Abhidharmakośa, which takes a lakṣa as one hundred thousand, then a koṭi would correspond to a million. If also including the lower numbers such as one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, and so forth, there are altogether one hundred and thirty-seven numbers; because the earlier ones are easy, they are briefly omitted and not discussed. From koṭi downward are all the higher numerical methods, which multiply with each successive step. The rest is as explained in the "Chapter on Awakening through Light." Many Sanskrit terms are preserved therein, but they are merely numerical names without any other distinct principle. At the very end, it says "this again is the ineffable of the ineffable": if fully repeated according to the preceding, there would be four instances of the words "ineffable." The translators used the two words "this again" to substitute for one "ineffable of the ineffable," which was the translators' skill.