大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 2.34

2.34

The commentary's phrase “The Buddha and the various kings are alike called worldly lords” and what follows explains the chapter title. This explains “worldly lords”. “Worldly” refers to the realm of the world, namely the three worlds: first, the world of sentient beings; second, the container world; and third, the world of enlightened wisdom. “Lords” refers to sovereigns: the Buddha and the various kings—earth spirits, water spirits, forest spirits, and mountain spirits are the lords of the container world. Heavenly kings, dragon kings, yakṣa kings, and so forth are the lords of the world of sentient beings. The Tathāgata is the lord of the world of enlightened wisdom, and he also generally transforms the previous two and comprehensively unifies the previous three; therefore it says that they are “alike called worldly lords”.