大方廣佛華嚴經疏 57.53

57.53

Third, below "The ship captain told him," praising and transmitting the teaching, divided into two: first, praising his inquiry, praising the arousing of his mind; later, being able to inquire about the Dharma. The text has ten lines: the first five are being able to inquire about the causes of the fruit; the latter five are being able to inquire about the causes of the cause, hence called the causes of the path. "Whirlpools of samādhi": "whirlpools" means deep vortexes, sinking and not flowing. The two vehicles sink into quiescence for as long as eighty thousand eons; therefore, being able to leave them far behind is the bodhisattva path. Second, below "Good son, I am here," transmitting his own dharmadhātu, within which there are two parts: first, marking the name and essence, meaning that great compassion transcends and is what sentient beings take refuge in; later, below "I observe Jambudvīpa," discerning its functions of activity, within which there are two parts: first, explaining his transforming sentient beings on land to let them know there is an ocean; later, below "I know in the ocean," skillfully knowing the marks of the ocean and transforming sentient beings in the ocean. Therein are two parts: first, explaining his skillful knowing; later, revealing the transformation and accomplishment of benefit. Now for the first: these jewel islands and so forth exist in the meaning of both birth-and-death and the Dharma-ocean; here they are explained provisionally in terms of the ocean of birth and death. The text briefly raises knowledge of five kinds of things: 1. Knowing jewels: because jewels are wisdom. If one does not enter the great ocean of birth and death, one cannot attain all the jewels of wisdom. Therein are twelve phrases: [1] in the ocean of birth and death, what is calm, quiescent, and immovable is called a jewel island; [2] the empty and non-empty tathāgatagarbha is the jewel location; [3] the merits like the sands of the Ganges are all categories of jewels; [4] the Buddha-nature is the jewel lineage—these above all pertain to what is inherently possessed; the next four pertain to accomplishment through cultivation: [5] pure morality, dhūta practices, and so forth are what can purify; [6] the wisdom of pratītyasamutpāda is what can drill; [7] arousing the mind of omniscience is the cause of emergence; [8] hearing is what can produce; the last four are the functions of jewels, meaning that the capacities of the three vehicles and so forth have distinct wisdoms, their functions in illuminating noumenon and severing defilements are each different, the cognized spheres have ten thousand gradations, and their shattering of folly and revealing of brightness are each unequal. 2. Below "I know all nāgas," these are the three poisons of anger, greed, and delusion in birth and death. "Bhūta" is translated here as "self-born"; they are also like yakṣas, but are not born from father and mother, hence metaphorically representing great delusion. 3. Below "Also skillfully and distinctively knowing the vortexes," this is knowing the marks of the mind-consciousness: form, formlessness, and so forth depend on the conscious mind to determine the shallowness or depth of eons; the waves of the seven consciousnesses have distance or proximity in defiling habituation; and according to good and evil conditions, the color of the mind-water differs. 4. "Also skillfully and distinctively knowing the sun, moon, and so forth": that is, being able to know the times, meaning the maturity or immaturity of faculties, and that in such times it is suitable to cultivate concentration, wisdom, and so forth. 5. "Also knowing the ships": that is, knowing the differences among the ten thousand practices, having expedient means being sturdy, lacking expedient means being brittle; what has been cultivated before being smooth, what has not being rough. The size of the waters refers to birth and death being bounded or boundless. The favorability or adversity of the winds refers to the eight winds, four favorable and four adverse, and also means that practice has abiding and non-abiding. If one expands the third and fifth, each has three items, so that in total there are twelve. Below "I, having accomplished," revealing the transformation and accomplishment of benefit. Since ten oceans are listed, one knows the preceding oceans; one should reflect in accordance with this. The first four are self-benefit, the latter six are benefiting others. The latter three are clear in the text.