大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 1.23

1.23

The Commentary states: "Without rising from the king of trees, arraying the seven locations throughout the dharmadhātu": the third clarifies the locations of expounding the sūtra, intending to take the seven locations. Regarding "king of trees," it is the bodhi tree, that is, the pippala tree. This tree is lofty and towers prominently above all trees, so it is called the king. Regarding "without rising," it means that without rising from the bodhi tree, he ascends to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, and so forth. Thus the sūtra below states: "At that time, the World-Honoured One, without leaving the foot of all bodhi trees, ascended Mount Sumeru and proceeded to Śakra's palace." Bodhisattva Dharmamati's verse says: "Disciples of the Buddha, you should observe the Tathāgata's sovereign power: in all of Jambudvīpa, all say the Buddha is in their midst. We now see the Buddha dwelling on the summit of Sumeru; in the ten directions it is likewise so: such is the Tathāgata's sovereign power." In the three heavens there are all statements of ascending without rising; hence they form four propositions: first, without rising from all bodhi trees, ascending to one heaven, as in the previous sūtra text; second, without rising from one location, ascending to all locations; third, without rising from one location, ascending to one location; fourth, without rising from all locations, ascending to all locations. The second and fourth propositions are taken from the concluding illustrative text, which says "in the ten directions it is likewise so"; taking the previous all-Jambudvīpa in contrast to Trāyastriṃśa as likewise so constitutes the fourth proposition. Taking merely one Jambudvīpa in contrast to all Trāyastriṃśas constitutes the second proposition. As for the third proposition, because it is simple the text lacks it, but in meaning it must be included. Thus, without rising from the dharmadhātu's bodhi trees, he universally ascends to the seven locations of the dharmadhātu. Now, saying "arraying the seven locations throughout the dharmadhātu" has roughly two meanings: first, causing the seven locations to exist throughout the entire dharmadhātu; second, causing each single location to pervade the entire dharmadhātu. As for the first meaning: if speaking of universal response from the narrow to the broad, as in the ten levels of locations expounded below, he pervades the middle eight, because the first is the seven locations capable of pervading, and the tenth exemplifies the other Buddhas. However, the ten levels below concern the Buddha pervading locations, whereas here we clarify locations pervading locations, which naturally has two meanings. Since the locations relied upon pervade the dharmadhātu, the bodies relying upon them naturally pervade as well. Now speaking directly of pervading the dharmadhātu, there are roughly five levels: first, throughout the same-type lands of the dharmadhātu, there are seven locations; second, throughout the different-type lands of the dharmadhātu, there are seven locations; third, throughout the lands within the fine dust motes of the dharmadhātu, there are also seven locations; fourth, throughout the locations of empty space accommodating dust motes in the dharmadhātu, there are also seven locations; fifth, throughout the Indra's net lands of the dharmadhātu, there are also seven locations. Second, causing each single location to pervade: for example, the bodhimaṇḍa pervades the dharmadhātu, so within the Universal Light [Hall] there is also the bodhimaṇḍa, and in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven there is also the bodhimaṇḍa. In each of the seven locations such as Yāma and Tuṣita, there is a bodhimaṇḍa. Just as it pervades the seven locations, it also pervades locations that are not among the seven locations, such as Nirmāṇarati, the Four Heavenly Kings, the eighteen of the form realm, and so forth, which are not locations of expounding the sūtra; now the bodhimaṇḍa also pervades them. Just as the bodhimaṇḍa location pervades those seven locations, each single [location] pervades the seven locations, up to the dharmadhātu. This also has five [levels]: first, universally pervading same-type lands; second, universally pervading different-type lands; third, universally pervading the dust motes of the dharmadhātu; fourth, universally pervading the locations where empty space accommodates dust motes; fifth, universally pervading the Indra's net lands of the dharmadhātu. To discuss it even more subtly: not only does each single location pervade, but in accordance with each single dust mote, it pervades the five levels of locations of the dharmadhātu; thus within one location exist all locations. The above two explanations of pervading both pervade the five classes. Among the five classes, the first three concern the dharmadhātu of phenomena; the next one applies to both phenomena and principle, because principle is empty and phenomena are empty; the last one is the dharmadhātu of the non-obstruction of phenomena and phenomena. Since phenomena are precisely principle, and phenomena and principle are unimpeded, through principle phenomena are fused and pervade layer upon layer—all of which are the Tathāgata's locations for expounding the sūtra.